The Spellbound Myth
by RulerOfMidgard
Summary: Percy Jackson; a muggleborn, a demigod, a hybrid. He's always been a fly on the wall, never being one to crave the spotlight. That soon changes when three letters arrive on one fateful birthday. This is Percy Jackson's spellbound myth.
1. A New Life, A Better Life?

Gabe Ugliano was not known for being a reasonable man.

To his friends, he was uncompromisingly incessant, and held an authoritarian role over any activity, mainly their poker games, they so regularly held.

To his employees, he was uncompromisingly stingy, never once dishing out extra holidays, or bonuses, and demanded unreasonable hours for unreasonable, yet still legal, pay.

To his neighbours, he was uncompromisingly aggrieved, and would take the slightest infraction on anything as a personal attack, refusing to settle any disputes without police intervention.

And to his family, he was just, uncompromising. His wife and stepson were nothing but mere servants, receiving payment in the form of the occasional backhander, and no, we're not talking about politics. They were kept locked under strict draconian rules, in spartan conditions.

Which is why to say Sally was shocked when he agreed to leave the house for the weekend, so that she and Percy could spend his birthday by themselves, was an understatement. Normally for his birthday, Sally managed to get half an hour, and one blue cupcake, to wish him happy birthday.

Many thoughts ran through her mind, wondering why this heartless man suddenly found himself with enough to change it.

She didn't dare ask. _No asking, no risking_ , a motto she acclimatised herself to long ago, a tingle fluttering across her cheek in reminder.

Of course she didn't know that Gabe had already made plans with his lackeys to leave town, and only saw this as an opportunity to try a new form of gaining obedience from the woman who constantly rebels, but never leaves.

So when the time arouse, Sally waited with bated breath, wondering whether or not Gabe was true to his word, for once.

When she woke up, she looked to the other side of the bed, hoping that she wouldn't spy Gabe's very unflattering form next to her.

When she confirmed he wasn't, she began to get a feeling of happiness run through her chest. Happiness because she got to spend the day with Percy, and no Gabe, but also another kind of happiness. She couldn't place it. It felt like a feeling of relief, but not an immediate relief like she usually got when Gabe has left, as though some time soon she's going to be content once again.

Still, she didn't get her hopes up too high, there was many a night (which were more often than not), that Gabe would simply pass out on the couch as his dizzying mind couldn't think straight enough to control his feet to lift his immense weight to walk him to the bedroom.

She quietened her breathing, realising that her breathes were quickly getting louder in a form of elation which left her feeling breathless. She strained her ears to hear a glimpse of the usual snore that she always heard, signifying her husband was asleep.

Yet she couldn't hear anything.

She wrapped a nightgown around her pyjamas, and had a look throughout the apartment, just to make sure.

She had to make sure.

She knew that if Gabe was somewhere in her home, then all thoughts of birthday celebrations went out the proverbial window.

Gabe hated birthdays.

Sally didn't understand why, but yet again, she didn't dare question it, for fear of what the maniac she married would do in retaliation.

He wasn't in the apartment.

And Sally couldn't have been happier.

She quickly got all the ingredients for making a blue chocolate birthday cake that she had bought a week prior, and had stashed away in fear of angering Gabe if he saw them. Well, if he saw them AND understood what it would mean.

She worked silently, a million thoughts going through her mind. All centring on _maybe Gabe isn't as bad as I once thought, maybe he can show compassion,_ and _this is going to be Percy's best birthday, second to none other than those he couldn't remember due to age (or lack thereof)_.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts and baking, that she didn't hear the light flutter of trained wings, or the quiet _*pop*_ and _*thud*_ of something materialising out of thin air, and dropping to the floor by the doorway.

No, she was so engrossed with what she was doing, she also neglected to hear the sound of a door opening and closing, and the jubilant footsteps of a newly christened 11 year old boy.

It wasn't until her son Percy had rushed into the room, and bade her a good morning, that she was pulled from her thoughts.

She spun around, and upon noticing the radiant and equally shocked look on his face, smiled down at her son, in her own happiness.

"Sleep well, Percy?" Sally asked, once Percy had finally come out of his shock at realising that he would be getting a cake on his birthday.

"It was the best I've slept in ages." Percy answered, a little absentmindedly. "Is that blue food colouring, mom?"

Sally couldn't help but chuckle at his antics, he always let food rule him. Though she did notice his answer to her question, and she didn't think her smile could stretch any wider.

"Of course it is Percy. You didn't think on your special day that there would be nothing blue?" She question him, tongue in cheek.

She couldn't help but notice the dark look that crossed his eyes as the last words slipped out of her mouth.

"But I did. Gabe never lets us doing anything nice." the malice that seeped through his whispered words that were intended solely for him, were noticeable at once.

He didn't know why his mom was with Gabe. He couldn't understand it, and while he loves his mom more than anything in the world, he can't stop the angry thoughts that pass through his childish mind, questioning why she would put them through this situation. Of course he didn't know about the extenuating circumstances, such as income stability and what have you, so it's understandable for a son to be confused as to why the nicest woman in the world, was with one of the worst men.

Sally on the other hand, while she couldn't boast telepathy, had a general idea of the picture Percy was painting in his head, and she could feel her heart start to break. She knew that while Percy still loved her, he was partly blaming her for the situation they were in.

Sally also blamed herself partially too. She knew that she had made the right decision for their family's survival, and she would do the exact same thing again in a heartbeat if it meant they were both provided with the protection that Gabe, and his pay checks, brought them. But it doesn't take away from the fact that she still chose this option, as opposed to the alternative that was provided for her.

She kept telling herself, that when Percy was old enough to learn the truth about their situation with Gabe, and why they needed him, she would leave Gabe and take Percy with her. The only problem was, that she just didn't know when that time will be.

As slow as Percy was, he wasn't an idiot, he couldn't read words, but he could read people. And what he saw from his mom hurt him. He knew that she knew what he was thinking. She always knew. And then the hurt that flashed through her eyes which made Percy instantly forgive her, as it immediately told him there was more to the story than he knew. He also looked on as her eyes settled on a far way look, with a steely determination, which told him that his mom was deep in thought about something she felt strongly about.

Percy, too, wasn't a mind reader, so he didn't have a clue as to what the actual thoughts were, so it was all purely conjecture, but he was confident in having understood the right emotions that he saw.

Sally had a range of emotions zip through her head, but she made sure her face was neutral, before planting a small, almost cheeky smile on her face, before leaning down a little and softly saying, "but Gabe isn't here now, is he Percy?"

The reaction was almost instantaneous. Percy's face lit up, and his mind had already wandered off from anger, being replaced by a similar cheeky happiness. He also realised with more confidence that his mom must have a good reason for why she was with Gabe, as she clearly wasn't too fond of him either.

"Do you need any help making the cake?" Asked a joyous Percy, mirth whipping around his offer of help.

A slight chuckle escaped her mouth, before a smile graced her lips.

"Of course not Percy. It's your special day and I couldn't be happier to make this for you." She told him, "why don't you go to the living room and put on your favourite channel? Hmm? Gabe isn't here to say no."

Percy couldn't nod his head fast enough, and it was the quickest she had ever seen Percy turn on the spot.

Yet the grin that wormed it's way onto her face at watching Percy's childlike antics, slowly turned into a slight frown, for Percy didn't make his way further into the room, and had stopped still, looking down at the ground.

She headed towards him, to see if he was okay, before she saw him bend down and pick up something she should've noticed sooner.

As he was returning to a standing position, he questioned, "why are there three letters on the ground? And why are they all for me?"

Sally, being equally confused, could do nothing except shrug her shoulders, before quickly realising how stupid that must seem, as Percy was still facing the opposite way.

With a slight blush painting her cheeks, she voiced the shrug, and said "I don't know Percy, bring them to the table, we'll open them there."

Percy just nodded his head, in a trance like state. He never got any mail. And yet, here were three letters, clearly addressed to him, albeit very strangely.

He trudged slowly towards the table, eyes still plastered on the letters in his hand.

He lay them on the table, and looked at his mom to see what she made of them. She was also looking puzzled, but was staring intensely at one in particular.

Looking down at each letter, he spied only one that wasn't as abnormal as the others, but still close.

He reached for the least weird one, and when he had it in his hands, he scrutinised it carefully. He also saw his mom looking at this one, with the same look she had before. Guessing it was the same one, he tried to work out what it was.

It felt like there was some kind of thin cylindrical object in it. He tried guessing what it was, but he could only come to the conclusion that it was a pen, which he thought was ridiculous. Who would mail an envelope, for just a pen?

Deciding he was tiring himself out at trying to rationalise why a pen would be mailed, he moved on to the front. This is why, though it was a normal envelope, it was still weird.

Looking at it, he read the words on the front, finding himself pleasantly surprised that he had no trouble reading it, whatsoever. Which was reason number 1 as to it abnormality, as he couldn't read, like, at all without major difficulty.

Reason number 2 came next. He read through the words on the front, all 2 of them. This struck him as odd, as he was sure mail was supposed to have something more than just his name " **Perseus Jackson** ", like his address or something.

But no, it was simply just his name, written in a glowing bronze-y ink colour. Which is reason number three.

It was glowing. He didn't know that was at all possible. Deciding not to think about it till later, caring too much about what this weird letter would say, he opened up the envelope, and poured out what was in side.

His suspicions were confirmed correct when a ballpoint pen rolled out of it, followed by a letter falling out a little more softly.

He immediately reached for the letter, failing to notice his moms slight gasp at seeing the pen.

As his fingers gripped the letter, he suddenly had a change of heart. There was something in his stomach that fluttered at every contact with the letter. And the feeling scared him.

He decided to open everything first, then look at what they all were.

Going for he next letter, he saw that this time, he couldn't understand the words, and knew that he would take ages to get through it.

Luckily his mom saw this too, and reached forwards and picked up the letter. Percy sent her a small smile, which she returned just as quickly.

She was just about to read the front out, when she saw that the last letter had the exact same words too. Now normally, this wouldn't be too weird for a regular letter, but both of these not only got the address down, but also the exact room Percy was in, which was not a common occurrence. The only difference in each letter being handwriting style.

She pulled the other letter closer, but kept the first one in her hands.

" **Mr P. Jackson,**  
 **The back bedroom**  
 **2nd Ave & E 59th St,**  
 **New York, NY 10022** ", Sally read out, wariness evident in her tone. **(A/n - just a random place I chose with my eyes closed, in Manhattan.)**

Handing it back to her son, Sally noticed the strange crest on the back, stamped in a velvety purple wax seal.

Percy immediately understood what his mom was expecting, so he turned the letter over in his hands. Not nearly having enough interest in the wax seal, as he'd already let out his confusion at it back in the doorway where he found the letters.

Till he looked a little closer as to what was on it.

Looking at the strange crest once again, Percy had to remark that the first thing that came to mind was that British rose war thing that he studied for a week in school. He only said this because the shape looked just like the rose flag from that fight. He only slightly knew what he was thinking of, because as much as lots of bloodshed can intrigue a child, he still was ADHD and as such couldn't remember anything other than the strange shaped badge.

Of course he knew the badge wasn't the same one, because on further inspection, there were noticeable differences, such as the shape, while on first glance it appeared to be the same and jogged something in Percy's mind, further reflection says that while similar, they are still different.

And that was ignoring the fact that in these four little heart shaped segments, that all fit together like a jigsaw, we're funny looking animals.

He glossed over the top one, as all he could see when he looked at is was that Nazi eagle from World War 2, though he knew they were different styles, it still looked too similar to not see it.

The one on the right, Percy thought looked like a very grumpy old man, wearing a Native American headdress, and holding arrows and a shield.

Then, looking at the one on the left, his best description would have to be a horned snake, as that is all that it looked like.

Lastly, looking at the very bottom picture, he saw a cat, with a ridiculously long tail.

He didn't know what to make of these animal things, so he decided to set it aside in his mind till later, and instead focused on taking out what was inside. What was inside, was a thick letter. Already dreading having to read that, he set it beside his first letter, foolishly hoping whatever magic let him read the first one, would rub off.

He then looked at the last one, before asking a little embarrassed, "Can you read this one as well, mom?"

Sally smiled softly, knowing how he struggled with his dyslexia, though he doesn't yet know why he has it. A quick glance to the first letter cemented the idea that he will know very soon, though, her mind suggested.

"It's the exact same as the first one, honey." She said, a little bemused, but she had seen stranger things in her time, so she wasn't too affected.

"Why don't you look at the seal on the back, I'm sure it will be as equally strange as the first one?" She suggested, knowing that he hated not being able to read brilliantly and wanting to give him something to take his mind off of it, and she had already guessed that, like the first, it would have one as well, if the exact same words on the front were anything to go by.

Percy just nodded his head, and reached for the final letter.

Inspecting this crest, he gladly noticed that each of the animals he spotted all looked normal. Looking at it from the top left, and going clockwise, he noticed a lion, a snake, an eagle, and a badger.

He, like with the first crest, didn't understand why all the animals were together, and what each animal stood for, but he was just glad that this one made a little more sense.

Following the same action with the previous letter, he opened up the seal, and pulled out a similar sized letter to the last.

When he had let this letter register, he decided that since it was in his hands, he would start with this one. He unfolded it, looked at it, before abashedly handing it to his mom.

Quickly scanning through the contents before reading it out loud, Percy saw his moms eyes bulge a little. Knowing that whatever was in the letter must be very strange, as his mom never acted like this for anything out of the ordinary.

Reading out the first letter, Sally said:

 _" **HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

 _Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE_  
 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

 _Dear Mr. Jackson,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in Scotland (connecting through London). Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins 1 September._

 _Due to you being a Muggleborn wizard (a wizard born from muggles (people with no magic)), you can expect to receive a visit from a member of staff by no later than 12:00 pm Eastern Time._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_  
 _Deputy Headmistress"_

Percy also couldn't help but let his eyes fly out of their sockets at hearing those words, just like his mom.

A wizard? Sweet.

This was before he shot his eyes towards their clock, seeing that he had at most 2 hours before the member of staff would get here, what with it being 10:00am now.

He never questioned the validity of wizards existing, because he himself had seen weird things happen in his life time, and he wante-needed an explanation for them.

He noticed that there was only one more letter from this envelope, something which surprised Percy because of how thick the letters package was, before he realised that the paper (if that's even what it is) it was written on was thicker than any other kind of paper that Percy had seen, expect maybe when it was still a tree.

"A wizard, mom? How cool is that?" asked a very excited Percy.

Sally understood his excitement, as she imagined she'd feel the same way if she found out she was one at that age, but having grown up and found out more about the world, she couldn't help but be a little glad that she wasn't one herself, and very worried for Percy.

"What does that one say mom?" asked Percy, his enthusiasm dropping off of him in waves.

Sally sighed a little, before reading the last page.

" ** _HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_**

 ** _UNIFORM_**  
 _First-year students will require:_

 _sets of plain work robes (black)_  
 _plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_  
 _pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_  
 _winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)_

 _Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags._

 ** _COURSE BOOKS_**

 _All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

 _\- The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_  
 _\- A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_  
 _\- Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_  
 _\- A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_  
 _\- One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_  
 _\- Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_  
 _\- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_  
 _\- The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

 ** _OTHER EQUIPMENT_**

 _\- 1 wand_  
 _\- 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_  
 _\- 1 set glass or crystal phials_  
 _\- 1 telescope_  
 _\- 1 set brass scales_

 _Students may also bring an owl_ ** _OR_** _a cat_ ** _OR_** _a toad._

 ** _PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_** "

"Spells. A wand. Oh my God, I'm actually a wizard. This is so awesome." Percy let a little of his hyperactive side out, by rushing out his words, though luckily Sally had plenty of training when it comes to deciphering what Percy says.

And Sally did genuinely think it was awesome, as Percy said, yet she still couldn't help but worry about how much trouble and danger he could get himself into.

When the initial shock had worn off, Percy asked her to read out the next letter, the other one with the weird crest.

As she did, she wasn't nearly as surprised to see that this letter was virtually identical to the one from Hogwarts, but the names of the school had changed, and the names of the headmaster, and deputy headmaster.

The only other major difference between the two of them, was that this Ilvermorny schools letter, did not give any mention of a member of staff house call, and that it was in America. Hogwarts being in the UK.

She, and Percy as well, couldn't believe it. Not only was he a wizard, but he's being offered places into two seemingly prestigious schools of magic, without any near begging from Sally's part. This was almost as shocking as finding out he was a wizard, because his record meant that no one wanted him at their school.

Percy was still very hyper, and he quickly rushed to grab the last letter, before finally checking himself, and asked Sally to read it for him.

So she did, or at least tried to. When she picked up the letter and looked at what it said, she found herself not being able to understand it. It was written in Greek.

This confirmed Sally's worst fears that she had for the letter previously, and brought the boarding wizard schools into a new light, one that she now saw as a useful opportunity, as opposed to the previous thoughts of danger.

She quickly moved her eyes from the paper, and flicked them towards Percy, who was, for once, sat still and staring intently at her.

She looked back at the paper, to make sure that it wasn't her mind deceiving her before, but it was still Greek.

Resigned to knowing that it was time Percy learnt the truth about his father, as that was presumably what was in the letter, she handed him the letter, saying that she can't read it, only Percy will be able to.

Percy, more confused than ever before, gingerly took the letter from his mothers hands, and looked down at the page.

Looking down, he was surprised to see that his mom was right, that he could read what was on the page. The words didn't jumble up and he could read it perfectly.

Reading aloud, to follow the same format they had going on, Percy said,

" _Dear Percy,_

 _I wish I could do this in person, like I always planned, but unfortunately I'm under scrutiny from my brother, and he is preventing me from being able to come._

 _Just know, that I am proud, so very proud of you. You have grown up into a very respectable young man._

 _I only wish that I was able to spend that time with you, instead of that nefarious cretin Gabe. I am truly sorry I left you with him. If I could have been with you, I would've been, but there are rules that even I must follow, upon punishment of death for breaking them. Though there are little work arounds that I can use to help you, which I have been doing whenever I can get away with it._

 _There are many things at play in this world, things that you don't know about, but it is nearly time that you should. I can't write them here in this letter, because if you're anything like me, you'll be speaking these words out loud to your mother, Sally. She will be able to explain everything to you in due time_.

 _But remember, names have power._

 _Lastly, I understand that you have received two letters, one from Hogwarts, and one from Ilvermorny._

 _Under normal circumstances, you would have only received one letter, from Ilvermorny, being an American wizard, but I used my connections to get you a place at Hogwarts._

 _Not only is Hogwarts the best school of magic that exists in the world, they also need you. I'm not telling you what to do, because Ilvermorny also needs you, and whichever one you choose, the other will still receive your help, just not till later._

 _THEY WILL BOTH STILL RECEIVE YOUR HELP. Don't make your decisions based off of which you have more loyalty to (as in America, or Britain.)_

 _But I would recommend Hogwarts being the school of Wizarding that you choose to attend, simply because this will be the place where you receive the best of educations (even with what will happen when you go). Nowhere else is on the level of Hogwarts, that still exists today._

 _This way, you'll have a better education for dealing with the threats posed to both schools._

 _Please think about this choice carefully. Going to either one of these fine institutes will make you into a very formidable wizard. Perhaps one of the greatest the world has ever seen. So it is a tough choice about which you would prefer to go to, so choose wisely._

 _Love from your father,_  
 _P_

 _P.s I have set up a vault for you in Gringotts. This will hold more than enough money to cover the costs of all your schooling equipment._

 _P.s And remember, the pen is mightier than the sword._ "

Once Percy had finished, he just sat their, gawping like a fish.

Father.

It had said father.

His father was also a wizard?

This was a letter from his 'lost at sea' father, who seems to have never been lost at sea, and has in fact watched him grow up somehow.

He faintly heard his mom calling his name, but he was sat in shock. He was vaguely aware of his mother moving into the kitchen to carry on making his birthday cake.

He was only brought out of his stupor when a crisp * _knock_ *, * _knock*, *knock*_ on their door, reverberated around their apartment.

He quickly shook himself out of his daze, before wondering who on earth it could be. Since Gabe had lived here, nobody had any want to come over, or rather any want that overpowered the despise of Gabe.

In all of his time here, he'd never heard anyone at the door, so this was a big development.

He sat up straighter, before looking towards his mom, who he noticed was looking at the kitchen wall where their clock stood.

He too, looked at the clock and quickly read the time. 12:00pm, near enough precisely Percy would say, if he took off the seconds it took for him to realise and then read the time.

His mom was still staring at the clock, which was weird as she was generally very good with numbers and time, before he realised she must be anxious about this meeting.

Something which Sally most definitely was.

She had never been as anxious as this before. She hadn't been able to explain anything to Percy, as he went into shock after reading the letter, something Sally assumed was down to it being from his dad.

His dad. "P" he had signed off as. Names have power, he had reminded them.

Before she could carry on with this train of thought, another crisp * _knock*, *knock*, *knock*,_ sounded throughout the house. This shook Sally out of her own mind, and she headed for the door.

Noticing Percy nervously trailing behind her, peeking around her, eyes fixed on the door.

She reached for the handle of the door, and to say she was surprised by the figure behind the door, would be quite accurate. She certainly wasn't expecting them to look like this.

 **A/n - I hope you enjoyed the first chapter to my new story, and please leave a review if you see any mistakes (grammatical or otherwise). Please also drop a fav or follow, it tells me there's actually someone who likes the drivel that I write.**


	2. His Choice

Percy Jackson was never the best at making decisions.

He never thought about them smartly, constantly choosing with his gut. This method did usually serve him well, and whichever he picks, generally works out alright.

It, however, still isn't a brilliant method to swear by.

When he's faced with two options that his gut can't choose between, he's left more than a little screwed. And this happens often.

Such is the choice that his apparent father, whoever 'P' is, has left him.

Does he choose the 'better' education, deemed only so by a stranger, and leave America, or does he stay in America and receive a more than adequate education still?

He didn't know. Couldn't know, and it was killing him.

Of course the obvious answer, would be to stay in a place that is familiar, but it didn't seem quite right. Yet neither did travelling to a foreign land.

He was still waiting for his mom to explain whatever it was that needed explaining, to him. But he didn't push her, she would tell him in her own time, he thought.

His mind was abuzz with a whirlwind of thoughts spinning around his skull.

He couldn't think straight. Though that isn't new to him.

But this was different. This wasn't his ADHD at work. This was something else. Something much bigger. Bigger than himself for sure.

He wasn't dumb, and knew that what his 'father' had hinted at, at what it was that his mom would tell him, would be something equal to, if not even more shocking than finding out wand waving wizards, and witches, existed in the world. Like was his dad part elf? Did they even have elves in the wizard world?

He just didn't know what it was.

Of course he had his theories, ranging from vampirism to aliens, but nothing felt quite right.

He was only pulled out of his musings when he noticed a piece of blue cake wafting under his nose.

He realised, with a slight blush, that he had zoned out, and his mom had resorted to using his kryptonite against him.

Feeling too queasy to eat anything though, for fear of throwing up, he took the cake from his moms offering hand, and set it down on the coffee table in front of him, saving it for a later time.

He took a quick glance around the room, and only when his eyes landed on a strange looking figure, did he realise that he had momentarily forgotten what was happening.

When his mom had first opened the door, he was nervous. No, more than nervous. He was worried. He didn't know why, he just had a feeling that whatever happens from this point on, he was in danger.

The feeling left as quickly as it came.

He realised that he shouldn't dwell on things that could have just been his misinterpretation, so he decided to abandon the notion from his mind altogether, rationalising that if it was true, the thought would come again.

His eyes focused on the stranger once again.

He didn't know what to make of him.

On the armchair, opposite the sofa that both he, and his mom (now that she has sat down) were resting on, was the oddest gentleman Percy thinks he will ever see.

He was very thin man, tall too, with thick purple robes, so long that they brushed along the ground when he first walked in, and were now sitting in a pool on the floor, swathing his feet. He had on a slighter darker cloak to the purple of his robes, which complimented the colour nicely. For footwear, this man wore a pair of boots, that were both buckled and high-heeled.

Framing his age-weathered face, was a cascading waterfall of silvery hair, alluding to his true age, his matching beard only helping one when trying to judge it.

Sitting upon twinkling sky blue eyes, were a pair of half-moon spectacles, which did nothing to dampen the sparkle his knowledgeable eyes held. These spectacles were resting upon a very long, and crooked, nose, as though this man has seen a few fights in his lifetime.

He had introduced his name as Albus Dumbledore, and was without a doubt one of the strangest things Percy has ever seen, looking over him only seemed to confirm this.

Realising a little too late, that this was the same Dumbledore that was said to be the headmaster, he blurted out, mid conversation, "Why are you coming to explain wizards to me?"

Perhaps it was a little rude, but the kind professor didn't show any inclining that he was insulted.

Instead he stopped what he was saying to Sally, who was looking a little reproachfully at Percy, and turned his sparkling eyes towards him.

"And why, my dear boy, would I not?" The softly spoken question, asked through the smiling lips of an ancient professor, caused Percy to blush for the second time in 10 minutes.

Stuttering a little with his words, he managed to spit out a coherent, "Because you're the headteacher. I just thought you'd have someone who's job it is, to do it."

Dumbledore chuckled a little, before pulling out a lemon drop from deep within his cloak, and popping it into his mouth.

"Normally Perseus, that would be true, but yo..." Dumbledore has started before quickly being interrupted by Percy.

"Just Percy, please." Rushed out Percy, inwardly cringing at his first name. He doesn't mind it, but it constantly reminds him of all the trouble he gets in with teachers.

Dumbledore, who Percy was slowly realising had lots of patience, let another chuckle, before starting over, "Well, normally _Percy,_ that would be true, but you are a very special case."

At this Percy was confused. He knew that he wasn't supposed to get a letter from Hogwarts, but he didn't think that was too out of the ordinary.

"What do you mean by _special_?" Sally asked, now alert. Anxious that this man in front of her knew something about Percy's true heritage, she was very keen on hearing his answer.

If Dumbledore was confused, or shocked, by her little outburst, he didn't show. What he did do, however, was try to placate Sally, by saying "It's nothing bad, my dear, just that if a child was born outside of the United Kingdom, we would not send them an acceptance letter, out of respect for the boundaries all the magical schools had decided upon."

Sally, feeling much more relieved, let out a quiet sigh.

"Which is to say why I believe Percy to be special. While every school generally welcomes anybody who wishes to study there, except a select few, you won't find a wizard alive today who had their education in another country." Dumbledore finished, wrapping up his reasoning of believing Percy to be special.

He could have left it there, as Sally understood the implications of what he said, but nevertheless he continued, whether for Percy's sake or his own, but he said, "I, myself, am not sure why this is, but what I do know is, Percy is the first student from another country that Hogwarts will have, permitting he accepts, for nearly 520 years. And to top that off, he will be perhaps the 4th, if not 3rd, to have applied to a school outside of his country, in the last 250 years. The last being 180 years ago."

Dumbledore's voice remained the same tone throughout, as he always carries. A tone of an assured understanding of what he is talking about, despite him just admitting to not knowing, it was fascinating, how he was always so assured.

Sally, and Percy, didn't know how to process this information. It wasn't groundbreaking. It wasn't an 'out there' statement. It wasn't anything other than what regularly happens with a child's education. There aren't many instances of people moving country, just for education, at the age of 11, if any at all.

Moving country for other reasons, and then finding a school for your child is different.

So thinking about all this, Sally didn't understand why this news had puzzled her. It seemed to just be echoing what the _muggle_ world did.

She decided it must just be because the head himself, was here to explain things to her. That certainly seemed right. She didn't feel any deceiving on Dumbledore's part, and she was a good judge of character, like her son, so she was assured that her reasoning was right.

Thinking about her son, she looked over at him, noticing how much he was paying attention. He was still tapping his hand against his knee, but his eyes were focused. They usually dart around the room.

She knew that she would follow Percy's decision whole heartedly. If Percy chose to go to Hogwarts, she would be more than happy to suggest they move to Britain, only she knew she couldn't. She relied too much on Gabe's money to finance a move to England. Though if he did decide to go to Hogwarts, she wouldn't hold him back.

She would prefer him to go to Hogwarts, for the simple fact that his father suggested he go there, and knowing who he is, he would definitely know which school would make Percy the best he can be. But, if he chose to stay closer to home with Ilvermorny, she would not try and persuade him otherwise in anyway.

And all of this is disregarding how much further he would be from his fathers world, and how much safer he would be because of it.

She hopes he chooses Hogwarts.

Dumbledore remained patient, silently lounging in the armchair offered. He knew how difficult this decision was. He had already explained everything pertinent to Sally, while young Percy was lost in thought.

He did wish that Percy would accept the offer from Hogwarts. He could tell that this boy will be something special. He held a raw amount of energy, unheard of at his age, since Mr Riddle, if not more so. Though it must be noted that he didn't explicitly care that the young boy was powerful, he cared more about his lack of an attention span.

As good of a school as Ilvermorny was, he didn't think it was as good as Hogwarts. He will, however, accept that his bias could be coming into play, but school rankings, and number of influential wizards put out, were always topped by Hogwarts. They dominated all criteria set by the Magical Association of Magical Associations (MASA), or the wizarding worlds worldwide education committee. Though Ilvermorny came second in most of them, and Percy would still become a great wizard if he went there.

He just didn't feel like they would be able to get the best out of him. Their teachers weren't as competent, he felt, and they weren't as strict. While in some instances, that could be seen as better, and to most it would, he knew that for Percy, he would need teachers who pushed him and didn't let him get away with things, to achieve his best potential.

That's why he wanted Percy at Hogwarts. Every good teacher wants every child to become the greatest they can be. And Dumbledore, in his old age, knows what it means to be a good teacher.

There must be something in the Jackson family air, as he himself has now fallen prey to losing himself in his wonderings.

He snapped out of it before missing any conversations, and decided to get to the most important point.

"Of course I'm not trying to pressure you, as this is wholly your decision, but I would like to say that I would be very glad to have you come to Hogw..." spoke Dumbledore, sincerity laced through his voice, before a meek Percy spoke up and interrupted,

"I'll come." Is what he said.

Dumbledore, while he couldn't say that he wasn't even a little shocked, kept his face as impassive as ever.

He had expected Percy to decline. He had expected Percy to go to Ilvermorny, and that would be the last they saw of each other, well until he became the wizard he expected him to be.

Sally, ever the one to worry about her son, asked, "Are you sure this is what you want, Percy?"

While not looking a hundred percent sure, he was nodding his head, his mind set on it.

"Yeah, no one has done it for years, so I won't be just like everyone else. And this time, I don't feel like that would be a bad thing. My father also wants me to go, and it'll mean we'll also be further from Gabe." The young boy sounded so sure with his words, both Sally and Dumbledore were taken a little aback.

"If you don't mind my asking, but who is this Gabe?" A curious Dumbledore asked.

"He's my husband." Sally said, trying in vain to hide the disgust she was sure would weave through her words.

Unfortunately Dumbledore picked up on it, and she knew it. Though she was grateful he didn't comment on it.

Instead, he said, "I can assure you that you will be further from him if you come to Hogwarts, than if you went to Ilvermorny", in a shameless attempt to assure Percy's admittance.

He didn't need to convince anyone, as both Sally and Percy wanted this, she just wanted to make sure Percy was making the right choice.

Though she couldn't help but pick up on what Percy had said about them both being away from Gabe. She knew that it would take her some time to amass enough money to leave Gabe, and a lot longer to move all the way to England.

She voiced her concerns to Percy, saying, "I'm happy for you to go Percy, but you do know that I won't be able to come with you, don't you?" Her voice shook a little. She didn't like their situation, and she's hate to be an entire sea away from her little boy. Though the prospect of sea didn't really frighten her in the slightest, but that's neither here nor there.

This time it was Percy who matched Dumbledores thoughts. They both didn't know what she was meaning.

Percy was he first to voice this, as he asked, "What do you mean you won't be coming with me? Don't you want to move away from him?"

Sally shook her head sadly, and said "I'll be able to send you there, but you know money is tight at the minute, honey, I can't move as well just yet." Normally, she would feel a slight embarrassment at talking about their financial situation in front of a practical stranger, but she felt at ease to do so with Dumbledore. She imagined her calmness was because he was a teacher and knew children from all backgrounds, so wouldn't judge.

Just as Dumbledore was about to speak up, to raise his own confusion, Percy was a little faster.

"I know mom, but I just assumed we'd use the money that dad put in the vault. Sure it was for school supplies, but he won't mind. And we can always get more money when that runs out." Said the young boy, a tone of self confidence at his own plan.

Sally was happy her boy would share his money, but she would never accept it. That was for himself, to help him out. Not her.

As she was about to tell Percy this, she heard a soft voice speak up with a tone of realisation.

"Dearie me, how could I forget? Because we don't normally have foreign students, we didn't think to send out the welcome packet. We have all kinds of bursary plans, and residence for foreign parents. If you're struggling financially, you're entitled to certain amenities. The last thing we want is to split up a parent and child, more so than we already are." Dumbledore, while not quite shamefully states, he did at least provide the curtesy of looking apologetically, and he genuinely was, old age was not all it was cracked up to be.

Sally on the other hand, couldn't look happier. She was getting the best of both worlds. She would be a lot closer to Percy, should anything happen, and she would be away from Gabe for good.

"See mom, you'll be able to come. So will you please?" Percy begged incessantly.

Sally smiled a little, before looking over at Dumbledore who nodded his head slightly, eyes still sparkling.

Sally started to nod her head, too. She was happy. More than happy.

"Okay, we'll do it. So long as you're sure you want to go." The first bit Sally aimed at Dumbledore, before checking herself and making sure she asked her son one last time.

Percy nodded his head enthusiastically. In the beginning, he chose Hogwarts as it he thought it would be great, greater than Ilvermorny. But when he saw what would happen if he left, with them leaving Gabe, and him fully understanding that, he knew he had made the right decision. And he was over the moon about it.

Knowing that meant yes, Sally looked back at Dumbledore, and said "Okay, we'll do it. So term starts at the 1st of September?" To which Dumbledore simply nodded in reply.

"So we'll have to sort everything out. We'll have to sign paper work with financial statements I assume? To qualify for housing help? And for leases/renting the house itself. And we'll also have to get Percy's things. I don't know the first thing about buying wizarding things. Where do we go? What do they look like? How much do they..." Sally started to ramble, losing her head just a tiny bit, before Dumbledore cut her off.

"Don't worry Sally, I've got the paperwork here." To which Dumbledore swished his wand that he pulled out of his sleeve, and sheets of paper materialised out of thin air.

Being the first bits of magic they had seen, Percy and Sally both stood and stared, open mouthed.

 _Magic is awesome_ ran through Percy's head a thousand times.

 _Magic is awesome_ ran through Sally's head a thousand times.

 _Magic_ is _awesome_ ran though Albus' head a thousand times. Well near enough. He was still mainly thinking about who this Gabe was.

He didn't press them, as it was clearly a touchy subject.

"And as for leasing and renting, you will be provided with a home, free of charge. Think of it as one of those gifts a college sends after a desirable student." He said this in such a way, that they knew what they were supposed to be thinking it's like, is exactly what it's like. They knew that Dumbledore wanted Percy to come to his school.

Sally, knowing she wouldn't be able to change his mind, decided not to try and persuade him otherwise, by saying she would pay for it herself.

"As for Percy's schooling items, there is a place called Diagon Alley which provides everything Percy needs, and more. I'll take you whenever you're ready, and explain everything to you and advise you on how much we need to take from this vault you mentioned. But remember, it needs to be at least a day before the 1st of September, so you've only got just under two weeks. So give me a date and time, and I'll pick you up to take you." Dumbledore said, his voice never changing decibels, never quickening, and still he managed it all in one breath.

Noticing all of her questions being answered, Sally said, "Well we need to pack everything up and quickly too, so _he_ doesn't realise what's going on. So we should be able to do it in a week or so, so maybe same time in exactly a week?"

Dumbledore nodded, seeing it as a reasonable date, but he wanted to offer something first, after seeing their urgency of doing it before, he guessed, Gabe was home.

"I can have you out of this house in at most two hours, from now, you know? If you wanted to leave straight away, I can help you pack." Dumbledore soft eyes twinkled as he offered a hand.

Percy seemed even more onboard with this idea, and tried to persuade Sally, "Oh please mom, I don't mind going right now. Please?"

Sally thought about things. Her friends had all left the state and she only spoke to them on the phone, so she didn't worry about leaving them behind, and with Gabe as her partner she struggled to make new ones.

There were her bills, but Gabe was the name on the lease, she just gave him her pay check in a verbal agreement she made with Gabe. So that wouldn't matter.

She didn't have any contracts, and could cancel her bank account and exchange her money from England.

Then there was her job. She would have to quit. Hopefully Mrs Davis would be okay without her handing in two weeks notice. She always got along with her, and hopes that would help.

"I'll have to quit my job. But other than that, I don't see why not. The only problem would be whether my boss lets me leave straight away." Sally told both Percy and Dumbledore, but aimed it at just Dumbledore.

Who already looked like he was anticipating this and said, "Would you need to go to your place of employment. I'm more than happy to wait for however long it takes."

Sally quickly shaking her head, said "No she won't be at the store today, so I'll have to phone her. Give me a few minutes, I'll try her now." And with that she was off into the kitchen, leaving both Percy and Dumbledore with each other.

There was a comfortable silence over the two, except for the light sucking of Dumbledore and his lemon drop.

He offered one to Percy, but still feeling a little sick, this time from too much excitement, Percy declined.

He did, however, choose this moment to voice something that has been nagging the back off his mind, ever since it was said.

"Why do you want me to go to Hogwarts so bad?" Was the question plaguing him.

He knew from the way Dumbledore alluded to offering them a house in exchange for Percy's enrolment that he really wanted him to go.

Dumbledore, looking not the least bit dazed by this question, said "Because you have the makings of a great wizard."

Which reminded Percy of what the letter from his not yet confirmed dad had said.

"And I want to make sure you become the best you can be. And I whole heartedly believe that Hogwarts will be the best place to achieve that. My only reason is as simple as that. There aren't any other reasons, like I know you're trying to guess. I simply want what's best for your chances of becoming the next Merlin." Dumbledore truthfully stated, smiling at Percy's blush at being so easy to read.

Percy also knew he was being truthful, and chastised himself at thinking otherwise. He, while not knowing who Merlin was, knew how much of an expectation this was.

"But don't mistake my words, Percy. Merlin could be where you end up, if not surpassing him, but you will need to work for it. Work for it harder than you have done for anything in the past. Harder than perhaps anything any wizard will ever do. And I know you're good at reading people, Percy, so tell me, do you think I say this to any of the other children?" Dumbledore spoke, in a rare moment of seriousness Percy had never seen him express.

Thinking about the words said, Percy knew he wasn't just being told that to convince him to come. He knew that Dumbledore truly believed he had the ability to become great, and that if he worked as hard as possible, he could be even greater. He also knew that Dumbledore was being truthful when he said Percy was the only one he's told this too.

Percy now finally understood why Dumbledore wanted Percy to come. Dumbledore was the kind of teacher who wanted the best out of everyone, and he wanted to offer Percy his greatest chance at becoming someone brilliant.

He made a decision, a choice, his choice, right then and there, that he would go to Hogwarts, and become the best wizard he can be. He'll work to his limit at practising spells and theory.

He'll make his mom proud.

 **A/n - I had a lot of free time today, so I decided I'll knock out another chapter for anybody who's interested in this fic.**

 **Please leave a review if you see any mistakes, and to tell me what you think of it so far, and a favourite and a follow are always appreciated.**


	3. Leaving Livelihoods Behind

Sally Jackson was someone who always saw the best in life, tackling it with a smile on her face.

No matter what happened, she could always be seen smiling, putting everyone else at ease. She saw it as her job. To brighten the people around her, even in the darkest of times.

She always put others before herself. Ensuring their wellbeing was her priority.

She never asked for anything in return. She simply did it because it was the right thing to do. Never expecting anything back.

Never wanting.

Even now, as Percy looked at her, any nerves he had just washed away, the second she stepped back into the room.

The only downside to Sally's efforts, is that Percy wasn't able to tell whether or not she was bringing good news, or bad news.

This time, however, it was time for Sally's eyes to twinkle, "It went well, she said I could go. Didn't want me to at first, but once I explained about how you got into a school abroad, she was more than happy to let me quit. She also wished you good luck, by the way."

Percy had never been more relieved to hear that his mom was out of a job. It meant that they wouldn't ever have to be around Gabe again, and for Percy, that fact was better than if he won the lottery.

"So it will take us quite a while to pack everything up, though we do have an incentive to get it done quickly, mind. So you're more than welcome to stay here while we do so, but I would suggest doing something else for the time being, it could get quite boring." suggested Sally, informing Dumbledore that they are both actually coming, and trying to give an alternative to waiting around in boredom.

Dumbledore's undying glimmer lacing his eyes shone a little brighter.

"I dare say that you'll find me more useful here than elsewhere." He articulated cryptically, letting slip, however purposefully, that he fully intended to stay here and provide the Jackson's with help.

"What are you going to do?" Curiosity lacing through the raven haired boys words.

"You just gather all of your belongings into this room, and I'll do the rest. That goes for both of you. And don't worry about the paper work right now, we'll sort it out once we get there, I can tell you're anxious to leave." His old face was originally smiling at Percy, before moving to look at his mother with the last sentence.

Sally, quickly figuring out the old man had something up his sleeve, jumped up, her aged brown hair flying behind her she was that quick.

She quickly tapped Percy's arm, who was still lost in thought. He had a rough idea of what Dumbledore meant.

She leaned down, and said in his ear, "The quicker we are, the quicker we'll be away from him, so let's get to it."

And with that, they both went their separate ways, gathering everything that they owned, and wanted to keep, and taking it into the living room.

For Percy this took some time. While he didn't have too many belongings, Gabe had made sure of that, he still found himself getting distracted every so often.

He found himself trying on old clothes, to see whether or not they still fit. This took up a lot of his time.

After sifting through his worn clothes, he managed to find all that still fit, and all that didn't. So things started to speed up for him, for a bit.

After taking all his clothes to Dumbledore, and laying them in front of him, he decided to check his bookshelf.

Normally he never looks towards here, as this was where the books lay. He didn't have anything against books per se, and was well aware that if he didn't have dyslexia, he would like to read more, but it still brought up painful memories of a bygone era of bullying.

He forced himself to move past the echoing taunts that reverberated around his mind, and he headed over. He saw about 15 books in all. A few text books, a dictionary, and a couple instruction manuals that were stacked neatly (well neatly for Percy). Nothing of interest.

After confirming that none of the books caught his interest, he decided to check out some of the ornaments he has cluttered on the shelves.

Seeing a few trinkets he made for his mom in school, he quickly grabbed them, not even questioning whether to bring them or not, and set them on his now sheet-less bed.

Not seeing anything else of value, he headed to the last place he's checked. Well first, technically, but also the last.

He headed over to his closet again, disregarding the spare coat hangers that gently swayed into each other with his slight nudge. No, instead he went for the two small shoeboxes tucked into the corner.

There wasn't many things in the first shoebox, which was his own, as he usually didn't like looking in there. He saw it as looking into the past, which he hates to do, and these were the last remnants of his.

Steeling himself, he pulled off the lid, and looked at what's inside. He first took notice of the small leather squared item, housing a few photos of his mom, his dad, and himself, which was laying on the last item of his past.

Taking it out and setting it down next to the figurines, he retrieved the pieces of paper that were not so neatly stacked and more just tossed carelessly in, and were lining the bottom of the box.

Quickly shuffling through them, he saw old school reports and work sheets.

Now, he was never an outstanding pupil, but he used to do well, for a dyslexic and ADHD student. Looking at them, he averaged about a solid B, as opposed to the D- he was at, at the minute.

This was Gabe's work, his home life affected him more than he cared to admit.

That's why he kept them, though. He always said to himself that he'll use these as motivators. Though he never really had an incentive to do well.

He had been too ashamed at how he let Gabe control his life, when he wasn't even intending to. So he locked them away, never to look at them again, but not bearing to toss out the one thing which he felt proved he wasn't stupid.

Shaking his head, he muttered to himself, "You made a promise that you'll try better. Use these. Gabe can't control you anymore." He knew that if it came to the writing, reading, and theory side that he'll still struggle, but didn't mean he couldn't succeed.

Lying them beside the other items, he looked back into the box, to see if he had missed anything, seeing only a few bits of dust and fluff, he moved it aside and looked into the last shoebox.

This shoebox was a lot more beaten than his own. It was his moms, who stashed it here so Gabe wouldn't do anything to it.

Ever the curious one, he looked inside. Not seeing anything of note, just a few bits of her jewellery, a couple pictures from her past (her as a child, at college, and some with my dad), and some letters he didn't want to read, as he felt that would be pushing his moms privacy further than he already had, he packed everything away, and took the shoebox out towards his mom.

She was making conversation with Dumbledore, something about what she used to do for a living, and how she'll find a new job in England.

His presence was noted, as he had to barge the door open, his arms being occupied by his moms shoebox. He gestured towards her, and said "I thought you might want this."

Sally looked down at his arms, and a flash of gratitude passing across her face, "I had completely forgotten where I had stored that, thanks for bringing it to me."

Percy smiled slightly, before extending his arms to her. She took the box and added it to the large pile that had accumulated.

Quiet fell over them, Percy and Sally having a moments reflection at their situation, and Dumbledore respecting their need.

After a couple of minutes, he could tell they were done with their contemplating, so he said, "Do you have everything ready?" his voice was as crisp as his knocking, breaking the silence.

Sally and Percy both turned to each other, nodding, before Percy quickly realised about his pile on his bed.

He gestured for them to wait a minute, accompanying it with a quick, "No", before rushing to his room. He quickly packed everything away in his shoebox, and double checking that he had everything.

He headed back to the others, before adding the load in his arms to the pile that had now amassed in the living room.

A quick glance saw that it consisted of clothes, pictures, jewellery, a tv, a couple handbags, books, shoes, pillows and duvets, and the two shoeboxes.

Percy looked over at the three letters on the table. Pocketing the one from his dad, and Hogwarts, he turned to Dumbledore, Ilvermorny letter in hand, wondering how he declines their offer, and before he could speak, Dumbledore cut him off.

"Don't worry about them, I've already sent them a letter explaining everything." his grandfather voice seeping knowledge through.

Percy, not questioning it, as he assumed it was done magically, looked curiously at Dumbledore, who had pulled something out that he did indeed have up his sleeve.

Before he started the wand waving, he asked a question he probably should have done earlier.

"Where would you like your home to be? We have numerous properties in every city in the U.K., sitting in a Hogwarts trust for such an occasion, and with hardly anybody transferring, they're all free." he said, absentmindedly.

Sally thought hard about this. She didn't want to go to London, as she wanted to be a little different. London is like the glamour city, where everyone wants to go, so of course she didn't. She didn't want to be like everyone else. She wanted to be different. She wanted to rebel.

But the only other places she had heard of, that were in England, were Manchester, and Liverpool, so it wasn't the easiest of choices.

She was tempted by Liverpool, thinking of the Beatles one of her favourite artists, but then she thought of Manchester, and how the leader of the British Suffragette moment was from there.

So it was a choice between the two.

She was leaning more towards Manchester, purely because she knew a little more about its history, and was essentially choosing between history and music, although Manchester was still rich in music history too.

She voiced these thoughts to Dumbledore, who was more than happy to see she didn't want to be a sheep, as he himself was convinced London would be the prime choice.

Deciding to help her out, he told her truthfully, that "the nicest properties we have out of Liverpool and Manchester, are in Manchester, so I would recommend there."

Sally wasn't normally one for extravagance, but never having money growing up, and never having the nicest houses to stay in, she wanted to treat herself, so she accepted.

With those four words, "We'll go to Manchester.", Percy found himself watching Dumbledore whip his wand about, and all of their items packing away into two suitcases.

Suitcases that were not bigger normal, yet he could swear he just saw the tv sink into it.

All of their items vanished into these two pocket dimensions. It took about 2 minutes for all of their items to be condensed.

Sally, and Percy, were once again jaw dropped.

"Ca-can I do that?" asked an astonished Percy.

Chuckling, Dumbledore said, "Not yet, my dear boy, but some day soon, I'm positive." He smiled in Percy's direction, the boy looked even more astounded than before.

Telling Dumbledore that she'll just be a minute, Sally did one last cursory check of their apartment, and saw nothing they had left. Yet she couldn't help but feel like they were forgetting something.

Sensing her anguish, Dumbledore spoke up, "I can check to see if there is anything here that belongs to any of you, that's not been packed away. To put your mind at ease."

Sally let out a sigh of relief, and gratefully took his offer.

As he did this certain piece of magic, Percy was still entertained by it, despite it not being a spell that leaves a visible trace. He just knew that any magic he comes across will leave him like this. Leave him immensely awed.

Once he had finished the spell, he told them both that "there are a few clothes in each of your rooms, some soap and shampoo in the bathroom, a couple of books in Percy's room. And a pen on the kitchen table, that belongs to Percy here."

As soon as he said the pen, a light was switched on inside her head. That was what she was forgetting. She knew that pen was special. His dad had given it after all.

Though looking at the pen, she didn't know why she was fretting, she had a sinking feeling that it couldn't be lost.

Going up to the table, Percy collected the pen. Looking it over, he saw just a regular ballpoint pen. It felt a little heavier than what he thought it'd weigh though.

It was puzzling him. Why would he be sent a pen, in a letter from his father? He could sense that pen was important, he just didn't know how yet.

Shoving it into his right jeans pocket, he convinced himself that he'll find out another day.

Heading back over to the little group, he looked towards them.

Dumbledore could see that they were ready to head off now, so he told them, "Now Sally, as I already mentioned to you when I first arrived, I'll be transporting you there personally, through apparition, a form of teleporting. This process will be very disconcerting the first time around, are you both okay with that?"

Seeing a head nod from both of them, he prepared them by saying "Grip hold of your suitcases tightly, and with your other hold on to my arm, just as tightly."

Once again nodding their heads, they both did as he said, before looking out into their apartment for what is probably going to be the last time. Their last view was of a warped apartment, before they felt like they were being sucked through a straw.

 **A/n, This was mainly a filler chapter. I just wanted to get them moving to England already, and didn't have anything that could be shoehorned in to the plot at this point, so apologies if it seemed very rushed.**

 **Rest assured the majority of new chapters won't be as rushed as this. Well, not on purpose anyway, I'll try my best to flesh them out a bit better.**

 **As for why I chose to move him to Manchester as opposed to London, is because I'm from Manchester, so if I were to have some plot ideas for when Percy returns home from Hogwarts, I just feel as though writing about an area I'm a lot more knowledgeable on, will mean I'll be able to write geography a lot more easily, and make any situations he finds himself in a lot more immersive.**

 **Again, as always, leave a review if you see any problems, or if you have any concerns, or you just want to point anything out. Please also leave a comment saying what you think.**

 **I'm also happy to receive PM's if you want to send me some, whether there's a bit about my story you'd like to discuss a bit more privately, if you want to inquire about working together, or even if you just want someone to talk to, my PM's are always open.**


	4. Shady Pubs, and Helpful Barkeep

Percy Jackson was finding it difficult to adjust to life in a foreign country.

It had been ten days since he had moved from America. Moved from Gabe.

Ten days since he left his old life behind, and a day before he officially starts his new one.

Ten days, and he still wasn't sure if he could understand the British people. He tried, he really did try, but everyone he spoke to just sounded so different to what he expected.

They certainly didn't sound like any British person on TV.

When he couldn't be bothered trying to understand English accents and customs any more, he devoted time to organising all of his stuff, and he finally managed to unpack every bit of his limited belongings, and was moderately happy with how he'd set up his room.

His room was on the second floor of their house, and was about the size of the living room in their old apartment, or in other words, 3 times as big as his old bedroom.

Their whole house was so much larger than what they previously had, and it was safe to say that his mom had immediately fallen in love with it.

Now it wasn't massively big though, not like a mansion or anything, but there was more than ample room for the two of them.

Though the house itself was more than fine, he wasn't too sure about the area yet, but overall it seemed quite nice, nicer than where he lived back in America, at least.

After acclimatising himself to this Manchester area, he found that he started liking it more than New York. He didn't know why, and didn't understand how.

Though he didn't feel like he would ever shake off his feeling of homesickness. He didn't, and couldn't understand why this was, he had nothing for him there. He had no friends, and no family. He just tried to ignore it, and it seemed to be working so far.

Both he, and his mom, had finished unpacking everything about a week into their move.

After that, it had been a relatively stress free time. There were papers that his mom had to sign, something about visa's and an American minister of magic or something, but other than that, they had no troubles. They apparently also now owned the house they were in.

And life was good.

With everyday that passed, Percy got more and more excited.

He had tried his best to assimilate, but everything was just far too foreign for him to adjust in the short space of time. He'd tried his best, him and his mom had toured the city a couple times when making their trip into the city centre, but everything was just so different. For one, it wasn't anywhere near as busy as New York, so much so that he could actually walk down the street and not just see a large wall of people perpetually in front of him. It also wasn't as tall as New York, far from it, and it wasn't as big as New York, in every respect. He felt like he could walk the city in about an hour or so, and have seen a lot of the sights.

But it was all so endearing. The place had a charm about it. A liveliness that just sucked you in, and it was all displayed perfectly with it's homeless. Of which there was a lot. Yet, they were always so polite, whether you helped them or not. They wouldn't hesitate to help you out either, if they felt you needed it. And most of all, they just wanted someone to talk to. They haven't had a good ear to listen to them in so long, or normal decent human interaction for a while, that they were more than happy to regale anyone who would listen with tales from their past, even fine to share why they landed on the streets in the first place.

It was probably the same back in New York, but their seemed to be a bigger stigma against the homeless there, a bit more unwelcoming. Both on the passers by and the homeless people themselves. He didn't blame them for their hostilities, treated like third rate citizens, day in, day out, is bound to arouse certain negative emotions, he just wishes he could help them. No one deserves anything less than a roof over their heads, and a pillow under them.

And that's what he vowed to do. He'd already promised to become the best wizard possible, surely he'd be able to transfer skills he learnt to help others, right?

Of course, this outlook for the future wouldn't be at all possible if he never actually managed to get to Hogwarts to receive his education, so he shook himself out of his thoughts and concentrated on what he was doing.

Looking down, he looked at his open suitcase, filled with everything he was taking, before glancing around the room at everything else he had to see if he had missed anything. They had found their lives much easier in England, especially with their house being owned by them making living costs much cheaper, so they actually had a bit more spare money and it showed. He had already amassed much more than his previous 11 years in New York, though no Gabe would help with that.

Sighing, he closed up his suitcase and thought over the plan for today.

Today, he and his mom were going to be travelling down to London. They were going to be getting his school supplies, and waiting for the train to Hogwarts.

He was just waiting for his mom to finish up some last minute jobs before they could get going.

Dumbledore had visited a few times in the past week, explaining to them about the wizarding world to catch them up to speed and to make sure Percy knew a little about the world he was getting into.

He wasn't told everything about wizarding though, as Dumbledore felt like he should still find somethings out on his own, and merely gave him enough knowledge to be able to a hold a conversation.

One of the things he was told, however, was the directions to an Inn called The Leaky Cauldron, which was the wizarding worlds access point to Diagon Alley. They were also informed to look for the landlord, Tom, who was supposed to help them enter.

He was busy trying to remember the directions that Dumbledore had given them, that he didn't realise that his mom was now standing in front of him, chuckling, till she cleared her throat a little.

Startled, Percy jumped on the spot, and scanned the room for the cause. Eyes roamed the room, before landing on his mom, causing his now tensed body to relax.

Percy smiled up at his mom, and asked "Are we going now?", and already knowing the answer, headed for his suitcase that carried all of his clothes, as he wouldn't be coming back to the house until Christmas time.

Sally already had her suitcase in hand, and waited until Percy collected his before speaking, "So long as you're sure you have everything ready?"

Percy doing a quickly cursory glance in his suitcase, and checking his pocket for the pen his dad gave him, that he always kept in there, and nodded his head.

Sally hadn't told him everything about his dad, but she did confirm that the letter was actually from his dad, and that the pen would come in handy, so he should always keep it on him.

 _Not that he could lose it anyway_ , Sally mused.

She didn't think it necessary to tell Percy about his heritage just yet. They were in Britain, far away from them, far enough away that he won't be in danger. She would tell him once he came back for Christmas, when the school term was finished. She wanted him to become accustomed to wizarding before potentially overloading him with more things.

With Percy's confirmation, they started moving.

They made sure everything was locked up, before heading off to the train station.

They needed to take a train from the town they were in, into the city centre. From there they had to get a train from a funny sounding station name, which goes straight to London.

The journey itself was murder for Percy. The prospect of wands and magical items only sedated him so far, before his ADHD overruled him.

Sally found the journey quite pleasant, as it wasn't too long, and watching the scenery change was fascinating. She also liked how everywhere in England had a different feel to the city right next to it. She felt like she could go ten miles and find a new culture, wherever she went.

The journey passed Sally by even quicker than she expected, and in no time they were in London.

As they had a few days to get all of Percy's things, they decided to spend the day going sightseeing.

They had booked a room at the Leaky Cauldron, and after spending all day going around London, they decided to head there and get their room.

When he had said "Goodnight" to his mom, Percy lay down on his bed, staring off into space, thinking about tomorrow.

He thought of all kinds of things, ranging from what his wand would look like, to why can't he have a broomstick, but he settled onto a more optimistic thought.

He recalled all the times he'd been bullied, and how many times he'd been the outcast, and swore to himself that it would all change at Hogwarts. He would try to fit in, and make friends, all the while focusing on his studies.

A little part of him also wondered whether or not this group of teenagers at a special place for them to grow, would have had the same experiences that he did. Always being on the edge. He also partially wondered if being a wizard had anything to do with his ADHD and dyslexia.

As he expelled these thoughts from his mind, he hoped that would be the last expulsion he would have to face in his lifetime.

His last thought before his mind wandered into the realm of sleep, was whether or not he could make it as a wizard. He'd been told by two different people that he COULD live up to Merlin, so long as he tried harder than he'd ever done before. But Percy didn't believe them, partially because he wasn't the sort of person who does try really hard.

Also, a small part of him, no matter how good at reading people, always believed that he couldn't make it, and currently this part was overruling the truth in the words Dumbledore confided in him when convincing him to go to Hogwarts.

When he was asleep, he found himself having had a very rare, dreamless night. Lately, ever since moving from America, he had been having the strangest of dreams, in them, he saw a man who looked like an older version of himself who looked largely like the man in his photos, holding a giant fork, and half donkey people. He saw beasts with 1 eye, and owls attacking a copy of himself.

He didn't know what to make of them, but he was thankful that he woke up the next day without these images flashing throughout his mind. This was the first time he'd actually felt himself having had a relaxing night, in quite a while.

It was like the prospect of wizarding helped calm him. As though he belonged to this world. He was at ease.

Then it suddenly occurred to him what day it was. He was going to get all of his wizard things.

He leaped up from his bed, and raced over to his moms room, before knocking loudly on her door.

It wasn't long before he heard a shuffle behind the door, and the door opening, to reveal his mom, hair dripping wet, covered in a dressing gown.

She smiled brightly at Percy, before saying, "Morning Percy, did you sleep alright?"

Percy nodded his head excitedly, "Yeah I did. The bed was really comfy, and I didn't have any of those dreams."

Sally hid her concern well, and plastered a radiant smile on her face. She was happy that he wasn't being plagued by the dreams anymore (she hopes), but she was concerned that his life in America was catching up to him.

She decided to stick by her initial reasoning of not telling him until he returns from the school for Christmas, but she did have doubts about whether that would be too late.

Instead, deciding to ignore her internal conflict, she looked at Percy and told him, "You better get ready if you want to go to Diagon Alley. I'm not having my son make his first impression on the wizarding world looking like he lost a fight with his bed. Come on, chop chop." And to emphasise her point, she clapped her hands in sync with the chops.

Percy bolted to his room, and into the en suite. Quickly turning the shower on, he instantly felt rejuvenated, all sleep weariness leaving his body.

He finished up washing his hair and body, and stepped out, before drying himself off with a towel, and slipping into the clothes he laid out for himself.

Quickly brushing his teeth, and trying his best to comb his hair, he exited the bathroom.

He grabbed his pants from yesterday, before rummaging in the pockets, trying to find the pen that he began to carry as a good luck charm and was also something he felt like he couldn't live without, but couldn't find it in them.

He quickly checked the pockets he was wearing, and let out a sigh of relief as his fingers closed around the ballpoint pen.

He was always doing that. He would forget that he took the pen out of his pockets from yesterday, and put it into the pair he would wear the next. Though he hasn't once remembered doing it.

Once he made sure everything was proper, he left his room and met back up with his mom.

She once again smiled at him, before ruffling his hair that, while he spent ages working on it, still wasn't neat.

He moaned a little, and moved to push her hands away, before she just chuckled and hugged him close to her. She whispered to him, "Are you exciting for to day, hon? We're going to get you everything you need, and more, and you're going to go to Hogwarts, and you will do the best you can, and I will be more than proud of you."

Percy blushed a little, he always knew his mom had faith in him. Perhaps more faith than she should give, but so long as Percy tries, he can tell she's more than overjoyed by what he achieves.

"I will do mom." Percy said, confidence oozing out of him. He always tries his best to make his mom proud.

 _I'll make you prouder than ever before,_ was the thought that played through Percy's mind during the comfortable silence that formed between them.

Following his mom down to the front desk, Percy could feel his nervousness start to accelerate. He had a whole swarm of butterflies flying through his stomach, and he felt like he might be sick.

Just 10 minutes ago, he was happy, or even ecstatic, and now, he was left a quivering mess.

He took some deep breaths and told himself that he'll be fine. He was a wizard, and this was the place he belonged.

But he couldn't help but feel like his decision to come here instead of Ilvermorny could have been wrong. What did he know about wizard schools?

What did he know about wizards?

All he knew came from Dumbledore, who was trying to convince Percy that he made the right decision. Who's to say he wasn't being deceived?

He started nearly hyperventilating, before he felt a warm hand rest on his shoulders, and he looked into his mother's concerned eyes, and her soft smile, and he felt like his worries just drifted away.

He chose Hogwarts because it's what his gut had ended up telling him to do, eventually. He liked the idea of magic, and his dad had told him to trust Hogwarts.

What was he worrying about?

He shook himself out of his thoughts, and immediately noticed the landlord, Tom, looking at him.

He didn't look judgmentally at him, instead he looked as though he understood what he was going through. Maybe he had experienced it himself. Maybe he just knew it was common for children his age to feel this, as he probably met many who acted the same way.

Either way, Percy was grateful for it.

He looked around the room at the Leaky Cauldron.

He hadn't known quite what to make of it. He was sure that his mom was going mad yesterday, when she told him they were here, and that it was down in front of them, because he couldn't see anything.

Then his eyes focused a little, and he saw a grimy old pub, that was very thin in height and length. It looked like nobody payed it any attention in terms of maintenance.

He also assumed it must have been some kind of magic that stopped him from seeing it at first, though how his mom saw it straight away, and with ease, escaped him.

After seeing the outside, Percy was fully prepared for what the inside was like. With the way Dumbledore describes this place, he had at first been expecting to see a grand building, fit for its fame.

But seeing what it's exterior looked like, Percy wasn't shocked to see a shabby, almost neglected space, covered with darkness barely being kept away by weak lights.

He noticed groups of people in here, some were smoking what looked like pipes, and some were sipping tall glasses of some kind of alcohol.

There were solitary figures dotted around the room, hunched over men, cloaked in black robes, with beady eyes glaring at any who came their way.

Then there were the ladies, clothed in elegant dress, breezing through glasses of sherry.

On first glance, Percy normally wouldn't have cared about it, but he felt a strong feeling of familiarity and welcoming that all, except the select few, pushed on him. This is why he didn't know what to make of it.

It looked like a pub where people from all walks of life could sit down, and get a drink, and catch up with, or make new friends. And he liked that.

So why did it have to look like a place where he'd normally be wary about being stabbed?

As he followed Tom the bartender, he was curious about where the wizard shops were, and where Diagon Alley was, as he noticed they weren't heading out the front to the main street.

After all, when walking down the main street, he failed to notice anywhere that sold broomsticks and cauldrons.

He was only further confused by the fact that Tom was leading them out the back door, and into a closed off court yard, with no one else in, and a stone wall encircling them.

He knew it. This was a place where you'd get stabbed.

He watched as Tom pulled out his wand, and faced the stone wall. He heard the little mutterings that Tom was saying to himself, "Two here, three up here."

He was properly confused by this point. He no longer feared being stabbed, but he most certainly did fear for Tom's mental health.

Taking an involuntary step back reflexively, for his own safety, he watched as Tom tapped on the wall, above a garbage can marring the otherwise quiet grandness, three times with his wand.

He didn't know what Tom was hoping to achieve, but soon found out once he saw the tapped brick start to stir.

Wriggling around in its socket, a hole appeared in the middle, before rapidly expanding and creating an impressive archway, easily big enough for the three of them to walk in, side by side.

Past the archway, was a twisting and bending cobble street, that curved out of sight about a hundred metres into what he assumed was Diagon Alley.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!"

 **A/n, and that's a wrap folks.**

 **Tell me what you think of it, and any ideas you want to see me introduce, and even any theories you have as to what's going to happen. I'll give you a clue, it's not obvious.**

 **As always, review and leave a favourite and follow, I always appreciate them.**


	5. Welcome To Diagon Alley

Percy Jackson's eyes must have been deceiving him. The way in which the wall moved was transfixing by itself, but to then reveal a hidden street where there was surely no space for something to fit was practically mind blowing.

He'd already witnessed Dumbledore alter space with their suitcases, but for something as large as an entire shopping street, was purely magically. But you know, a magical for magical people, something even they surely thought was just fantasy. Yet here it was, clear as day. He had certainly not realised just how powerful magic could be.

He was way too far gone in his adoration of Diagon Alley, that he didn't hear Tom saying "This, here, is Diagon Alley. I can't take you any further, as I have to make sure others can get here. But you'll want to first start at Gringotts wizarding bank, which is about 500 yards down the street." He accompanied his words with hand gestures, detailing the correct way.

He was far too much in awe at what he saw before him. He faintly felt his mom leading him into Diagon Alley, and saying goodbye to Tom, before he heard a strange _wooooosh_ sound, and he turned back around, only to see nothing but a solid wall.

His eyes didn't know where to look at first.

There was so much going on, that any direction he was facing had something new that he wanted.

His mom said to him, "We need to head to Gringotts first, so we can actually get you some of this stuff."

He nodded slightly, registering what she was saying, but too entranced by the sunlight dancing off some cauldrons outside of the nearest shop.

With the glare in his eyes, he barely managed to make out all the different kinds of cauldrons sitting in front of him. Not being able to read the sign above them which detailed what they were, he decided to try and guess by looks alone.

He figured one was pewter, though he didn't know what that looked like, he simply figured it to be a massively popular item, since all the kids would have one, or need to get one.

Looking at the other cauldrons, he saw a reddish brown looking one, and guessed that it was copper.

The next along was a metallically brown colour, which Percy believed to be bronze, though he was remiss to see it lacked the glowing finish he had started to associate with bronze, and was even more confused as to why he thought it'd glow in the first place.

He then saw a silver coloured cauldron, and Percy correctly guessed it was actually silver. He had just turned to look at the last two, when he felt his mom dragging him away.

"You can look all you want later Percy, but first, we need to get some money out." Sally said to Percy, trying to usher him into picking up his pace.

They made it all or about 10 feet before Percy lost himself to the wonders of Diagon Alley once again.

He wished that he had a hundred eyes, and even one on his tongue.

His head whipped around in every which direction as they made their way up the street, trying to spot everything in one: from the shops, to the shoppers, and the things outside of them.

His sea green eyes drank everything in, from the Apothecary with a flustered stout woman mockingly saying, "Dragon liver, 13 sickles an ounce, they're still mad..."

His eyes stayed on the plump woman, who was shaking her head so viciously, he thought it was about to come off. As he turned away from her, he heard a bunch of loud screeches coming from the opposite side of the alley.

Turning around he saw a pet store of some sort, with nothing but owls in its shady insides. They were practically screeching at Percy as he passed by, which completely engrossed Percy.

He had never liked owls, as they had never liked him.

He failed, once again, to notice the concerned look that crossed his moms face.

Sally knew why the owls acted the way they did, and she didn't like it one bit. She needed to move him away from here.

Steering his shoulders well clear of the Owl Emporium, Sally lead Percy face to face to a broomstick store. Normally she would have been afraid to let Percy travel through the air, but she had received a letter from Percy's dad, guaranteeing his safety when using broomsticks, so she was more than happy to let him own one, only with him not being a first year though.

Percy however, was still thinking about broomsticks, but was simply looking at the beauty of the one in front of him. He had been told a bit about quidditch by Dumbledore, and knew that he'd enjoy playing it, as the feeling of being free always entertained Percy.

He didn't like to be restrained. It wasn't in his nature.

He overheard a group of kids, three boys, and one girl, commentating on the broom that grabbed Percy's attention, their noses squished against the glass window of the store.

"Bloody hell," he overheard the middle boy shout to his friends, "it's only the Nimbus Two Thousand, that's the fastest broom to ever be made."

He left them to revel in their gasps of delight.

He noticed a shop with big brass telescopes of all different sizes set up in front of the stores window, and a shop opposite with flowing robes on racks and changing rooms.

There was another store with barrels in the windows, with what he could only guess to be spleens for bats judging by the wings hanging above that particular barrel, and then a barrel filled to the brim with eel eyes, which he just instinctively knew them to be. In the background, he saw potion bottles accompanying spell books, rune books, parchment and ink, with quills and moon globes.

He had felt his mouth drop with every store they passed. No matter what store it was, there was always something to amaze him.

He was ripped from his thoughts by his mom who was now pointing at a beautiful building, as white as snow, standing far above the other little shops.

It had gorgeous burnished bronze doors, that were currently being flanked by small looking figure, in vibrant scarlet and gold robes.

As he got closer, he took more notice of the funny little man next to the door.

"Goblin." He whispered.

He looked over at his mom, to see what she thought of them, and noticed that she didn't look at them as though they were out of the ordinary. Instead, she was looking down at him reproachfully, instantly wiping the gawping look off of his face.

"Yes, now don't stare, it's rude." Sally said, her voice a tiny bit sharper than usual.

Percy nodded his head. He hadn't cared that they were different, it was just he hadn't seen anything like them before. He wasn't meaning to be rude.

The goblin was about a head and half shorter than Percy, with a saturnine, shrewd face. His feet, and hands, were both long and slender, Percy took note.

As he and his mom passed, the goblin bowed to them, to which Percy, unsure of how he was supposed to treat this, bowed slightly back.

The goblins otherwise clever face, adopted a perplexed one for a mere second, before moulding back to its regular state of aloofness.

Once in the foyer, Percy took note of its grandness, before spotting a pair of double silver doors.

He could see words engraved on them, and was pleasantly surprised to see he could read them:

 _Enter, stranger, but take heed_

 _Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

 _For those who take, but do not earn,_

 _Must pay most dearly in their turn._

 _So if you seek beneath our floors_

 _A treasure that was never yours,_

 _Thief, you have been warned, beware_

 _Of finding more than treasure there._

Even though Percy had absolutely no intention of stealing anything, he could feel himself start to act a lot more cautious and precise with the way he acted, definitely acting more suspicious than he had right to be.

This time however, as they walked through these doors, were a pair of goblins, who also bowed them through.

Once through, the room spread out into a vast hall, decorated with marble. There was a long counter spread across the room, with high stools behind, and goblins sat upon them. About a hundred in all.

These goblins were working brass scales with coins, and writing in large ledgers, before peering at precious gemstones through magnifying glasses.

There were also more doors than Percy could count, all around the room, with even more goblins at the entrances, who were constantly appearing and disappearing with different people.

Joining the light queue, due to how numerous and how effective the goblins were, Percy and Sally were seen to in no time.

Spotting a goblin free up, they made their way over to his section of the counter.

Percy, being the uninformed 11 year old that he was, had no idea what he was doing, so stayed out of his moms way.

Sally, while never having dealt with goblins, had dealt with human bankers, and figured it wasn't too different. So she spoke with confidence, and asked "I would like to see Percy Jackson's vault." before drawing a key from her pocket, at the goblins prompting.

Taken aback by the sight of the key, Percy glanced at his mom, wondering where she got it from. She noticed his questioning look at the key, and said "Dumbledore gave it to me when he last visited, saying your dad gave it to him to give to you."

Percy accepted the answer, as his mom didn't have any reason to lie to him, and he could tell that she wasn't.

He wasn't happy with how much time other people got to see of his dad, with him having barely any, but figured he had an acceptable reason, and decided to trust him. It also helped that his mom had told him to trust his dad.

Paying attention to the goblin once again, he saw him turn the key over in his hand, scrutinising it carefully.

Nodding his head, the goblin said "Well everything seems to be in order. Take this, and head over towards Griphook, he's at the entrance closest to here. Next!"

He handed them a little piece of card, with a stamp on it, signifying that they were legit, and quickly ushered them away, beckoning the next customers forward.

They headed towards who the assumed was Griphook, and showed him the stamped card.

Griphook was also a goblin, though Percy had come to expect that. This goblin gestures for them to follow, to which they did wordlessly.

They were heading to one of the doors Percy spotted earlier. As Griphook opened the door, Percy was prepared to see more ornate marble furnishings, but was shocked to see flaming torches adorning the wall, casting a light over the very narrow stone passageway.

Percy had to watch his step, as he nearly tripped over railway tracks, and tumbled down the slopes hill in front of him. Steadying himself, he heard Griphook whistle sharply, and looked on in awe as a small cart whizzed up the tracks towards them.

They all managed to fit in okay, and as soon as they were all seated, they were off.

They twisted and turned through a labyrinth of interconnecting tunnels, Percy didn't even bother trying to remember all the turns they made, as he knew it was no use. Percy's breath caught in his throat once he realised that Griphook wasn't actually steering the rattling cart, before he realised they were clearly perfectly safe.

They whipped down at speeds Percy shouldn't have felt comfortable at, but he loved the feeling of the cool air, rushing past his face, flowing through his raven locks, and drying his eyes up.

He thought he saw little bursts of fire every so often, but they were gone before he could get a proper look.

Eventually, the cart slowed to a stop, and Percy hopped out, slightly disappointed it was over.

He had a look at where they were, and saw a very small, but intricate door. It had what looked like bronze welded onto the wood of the door. Glowing bronze. Bronze he felt familiar with.

Griphook held his hand out, and his mom swiftly popped the key into it.

Unlocking the door, Percy thought he might die of shock.

He was certainly mistaken before, winning the lottery was better.

Inside this door was a room that Griphook confirmed to be about 15 metres by 15 metres, and 10 metres high. Stepping into the only bit of floor that wasn't completely covered with items, he surveyed what was now his, and his moms.

He had a general understanding of how wizarding currency worked, enough to know that he was filthy rich. Like, properly rich, Bill Gates rich.

Starting the full 15 metres back, was a wall of gold coins. An actual wall.

This wall took up about 10 metres by 10 metres, and was completely touching the ceiling. It was absolutely packed with galleons. It was a huge square, with as many galleons as there can physically be it that area. Then in the 5 metre by 15 metre square area that wasn't taken up, on the far right, was filled in the same manner as the galleons, only with sickles. There were no Knuts anywhere to be found in his vault. (An - for anyone wondering, the general estimate for this would be about 135 million galleons, or £691,200,000 million, and 101 million sickles (if we assume them to be the same size as galleons as I could only find info on galleons), or £30,418,823.50. So in his vault, Percy has about £721,618,823.50. And I wanted him to have so much, though I didn't realise it would be that much till I worked it out, because I thought it would be interesting to write about and see how such a kind hearted person like Percy, would help people around him, knowing he has millions to literally throw away. The money won't really impact the story in anyway, and will likely not be mentioned at all.)

The last section of the vault, by the entrance, was also a 5 metre by 15 metre area. This, however, was void of any coinage. Instead there was beautiful crafted armour sets, some made from bronze, some iron, some gold, some a strange black material, etc.

They were jaw dropping beautiful. Like a god had crafted them himself. The intricacy, and delicacy, and care taken into them, made them simply divine.

These armour sets were set up on wooden mannequins, and were at the far left. Spanning a smaller area was a shield rack, with equally beautiful shields, with the same care taken to them. Each shield had a picture painted on with precision and such vividness they almost came to life.

Next came a weapons rack, with 2 different weapons all made from different materials. They were made from bronze, gold, and the black one. There were fork shaped weapons, like he'd seen the man in his dream hold, then there were also knives, which he had a vague premonition about knives being vital in his future.

He was dismayed to see that there was no swords, as he had always liked pretend sword-fighting with branches.

The only one he felt drawn to, was the fork thing, which he believed to actually be a trident. He headed over there, and put his right hand on the bronze one, the one he felt most comfortable with. He quickly reached his hand back as the weapon, and the bronze knife vibrated a little, before growing smaller, and dropping to the floor with a pop.

Looking down, he saw the two weapons were about the size of one of his fingers, and thought to himself, _how convenient, they travel well_. He bent down to pick them up, when suddenly both of them simultaneously floated, before rushing towards each other, clashing together in a blinding flash.

Once his eyes cleared, he once again looked down, and this time saw a glowing bronze coin, lining the floor. Staring at the coin in shock, he slowly bent down and picked it up. It was still vibrating, though it was getting more and more quiet with every passing second.

He quickly shoved it into his right pocket, brushing past his pen, before he looked towards the shield rack, and made his way over.

Touching one which looked to be a Pegasus flying, he stood still as he watched the Pegasus actually start to fly around the shield. He was so fixed on the hypnotic beating of the winged horses wings, that he didn't notice it start to shrink down too, before it dropped onto the floor, the size of his palm. He waited for it to hover in midair, and watched as it also emitted a blinding light, before taking on the form of an elegant watch.

He quickly picked this up too, before fastening it onto his right wrist.

Knowing that some kind of powerful magic was taking place, he decided to try and work out how it worked with the last piece of equipment in the room, the armour.

Heading over to the mannequins, he studied each of them carefully, desperately trying to ascertain a hint of how they worked.

Coming up short, he instead looked at each to see which he liked the best. Eventually deciding on the bronze, since it looked the most well designed and he felt drawn to that material.

Reaching out his hand, he suddenly stopped short, and decided to try and guess what it would turn into, as to not let his musings of the magic behind it be a complete waste.

They were all clearly supposed to look like ordinary items, such as the coin and the watch, and he could understand why each looked like they did. The watch being something readily on his wrist, ready to protect him at a moment's notice, and his trident (the weapon he could tell he'd use the most) was quickly available in his pocket. Though the idea of a coin was a little confusing, as he thought a pen would be better suited, after all, it resembles a weapon the most out of all objects a person would have on them.

He rationalized that it would turn into a necklace, or a belt or something along those lines, as they were central on his body.

Frustrating himself, he decided to know once and for all, and touched the cold material. The same happened again, with the armour shrinking, before floating in the air and clashing together in a flash of pure white light.

As his vision slowly improved, he spied the newly hidden armour in the form of a necklace. He applauded himself for guessing it right, and retrieved it from the floor, before fastening it around his neck.

None of the items concealed identities looked as impressive as what they were hiding but still looked good and dare he say regal.

His watch, was again, bronze, had gorgeous patterns adorning it, and looked like it would be worth a lot of dollars. Same with his neclacke, which looked like it was made up of a multitude of bronze beads, all with brilliantly intricate designs hand carved into them, though couldn't see what the patterns made, as the vault was too dark. Then was his coin, which was strange in and of itself. It also had many patterns carved into it, and had a stamp of the Empire State Building on one side, tremendously crafted into the bronze, and on the other was beautiful horse, waves, and trident, interwoven in a way that shouldn't have looked that impressive, but still was.

It was safe to say that Percy was taken aback by each and everyone of them.

There was nothing else in the vault that struck Percy of particular notice, so he turned towards his mom, to see how many coins she thought he should take.

Sally was in shock. Percy seemed to get over his surprise relatively quickly once he saw the weapons at about the 20 second mark. Sally, however, did not. She couldn't believe how much money her son Percy now had.

His father was trying to make up for his absence.

She completely missed Percy's display with the equipment, as she was too focused on mentally berating his father. It was too much money to give to an 11 year old. It could do any number of things to him, but worst of all, it could corrupt him. Who's to say he doesn't become spoilt and elitist?

She would have to make sure he knows that this doesn't make him better than other people.

She needn't have bothered though, because Percy was already making plans on what charities he would give this too, and how he would make sure that his mom got more than enough of her fair share of this. He would of course keep some to himself, but he certainly wouldn't be stingy with it.

A slight cough sounded from the goblin handlers lips.

This broke them both out of their thoughts, and they looked towards him. He was holding out 2 bags towards them. He told them that they should probably take about 200 galleons to cover schooling costs, and any more would be for extra.

Sally decided to help Percy take 350 galleons from the pile. At first she was wary of how she'd take them out, when she saw Percy just take a handful of coins out from one stack, and saw that instead of falling, the coins above slowly slotted into place.

So she, too, threw caution to the wind.

They were done in no time, and were soon off back to Diagon Alley, taking an equally wild cart ride to get them there.

Standing outside, with the sunlight shining down on them, Percy felt a surge of excitement race through his veins. He had an extreme amount of money. And he could spend it however he like, providing he first made sure he got his Hogwarts items.

He didn't know where to head first though, but luckily his mom was on the ball, as she had already pulled out his list of necessities.

Percy had always hated shopping, and while the prospect of it all being wizard related elevated his mood a great deal, he was still slightly wary.

They head off to complete their shopping list. They decided to leave pet shopping, book shopping, and wand shopping till last.

They went all over Diagon Alley, stopping off at every shop they saw, not necessarily because they need to get something from there, but because they were both fascinated by the things they saw.

They eventually managed to get round to collecting most of his things.

They were currently on their way to heading towards the book store. They had checked out how much they had left to spend, and how much everything else would roughly cost, and knew that they had about 150 Galleons of spare change.

In Flourish and Blotts, they went crazy. They first made sure he had all the books for year 1, but Percy, after he had a new outlook on life, and a new code to live by, asked for any books that could help him. Though he didn't want to get any books he'd need for later years, as he wanted to look forward to buying them every year.

Firstly, he asked to buy a book about translating words to different languages. Then he bought spell books, and the self teach books that accompanied them.

Curse books were also thrown into the mix, and he was particualry anxious to read Curses and Countercurses, because they didn't seem too dangerous, so he'd be able to use them on people without them being in danger. It would really help with pranking people.

He thought that he knew wouldn't be able to remember all of these spells, but he knew if he had access to a source of lots of spells, he wouldn't struggle too much.

By the end of their trip, the extra spending money he had was severely dwindled.

He had bought far too many books.

Though he knew they'd come in handy, and it's not like he needed the money, so it didn't really matter.

Moving away from the book store, they decided to get his wand and pet, then call it a day.

They head towards a shop called Ollivanders. He couldn't make out the sign above the shop, but he could certainly make out the peeling of the letters.

The shops condition wasn't much better. It had definitely seen better days. It was very narrow, and very shabby. Looking through the dusty display window, Percy saw a solitary wand, lying upon faded violet cushion.

Percy had originally been most excited about getting his wand, but now he figured wands weren't actually that favoured by wizards.

He was, of course, completely wrong.

Still though, he headed in to the shop, hearing the tinkling of a bell as they stepped passed the threshold of the shop.

It was a very cramped place. Tiny even. A lone, spindly chair, sat in the middle, by itself, which his mom eventually moved to. Percy was faintly reminded of a strict library, and to put his mind at ease, tried looking for all the wands.

He noticed thousands of very thin, long boxes, neatly piled up to the ceiling. His senses activated, and he was acutely aware of the magic that was laced throughout this room. The dust, and the silence, carrying a wave of energy. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

He heard the light shuffle of feet from behind the counter, and turned to gaze at an old man, with pale eyes like moons, shining through the shops gloom.

"Good afternoon." Came the mans soft voice.

"Hello." Said both Percy, and his mom, in sync.

The man smiled, and asked for his name.

"Percy Jackson, sir." he said, as equally softly. There must be something about the atmosphere.

"Now let me see," started Ollivander, before procuring a long tape measure, with silver markings, from his pocket.

"Wand arm?" He asked, already starting his measurements.

"Err, I'm right handed." Percy said, confused as to what his wand arm is.

Apparently this was the right arm for him to say, as Ollivander prompted him to hold it out, before he started to measure things Percy didn't think had any correlation. Suddenly stopping though, Ollivander looked up and said,

"Curious. Very curious. Your wand is not destined for your strongest arm. Curious indeed. Left arm, my boy. Now." He rushed Percy towards the end.

Starting again, Ollivander this time began with shoulder to finger, which seemed fine, as did wrist to elbow, but then he measured shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and then finally around his head. It was safe to say, Percy was even more confused.

While measuring, he explained to Percy about the cores he uses. How they're all powerful, and how his wands are all unique, and how only the wand that's right for you, will get the best out of you.

It wasn't until Ollivander sprung away that Percy realised the tape measure was flying and measuring by itself. He found this out when it was measuring the size of his earlobes.

By the time Ollivander stopped racing up and down his ladder, he had amassed about 5 boxes, and was on his way back over.

Setting the boxes on the counter, he snatched away the tape measure.

Ollivander then handed him different wands and ordered him to wave them. Nothing had happened, and Ollivander grabbed them away almost immediately.

There were dragon heartstring core wands, and beechwood wood, but none fit Percy.

Ollivander took the boxes away, and grabbed what was the seventh wand Percy tried, and took it down from its shelf.

He looked down at it, then back at Percy, and he had an excited look in his eyes, which quickly turned to sorrow. It said that he was confident this was the one for Percy, but that he didn't like what it means.

He deliberately made his way over to Percy, and unboxed the latest wand. Holding it out towards him, Percy reached over and grabbed it. His fingers connecting to the soft, silk lining of the box, before closing around the new wand.

He instantly felt a connection. A warmth spread through the fingers on his left hand. He lifted the wand out of the box, and waved it in front of himself. Upon doing so, red and gold firework sparkles shot out of it. A quick clap from Ollivander signified that this was the right wand for him.

Yet Ollivander was not happy.

"Yew, Phoenix feather, thirteen and a half inches, nice and supple." Ollivander started, swallowing a gulp down his throat. He didn't want to say the next words, but he knew he ought to.

"This is perhaps the rarest wand in my collection. In that it is the only wand that I know of, that isn't rare. This wand is almost identical to another one sold, some 70 years ago now. Only difference being the exact tree and phoenix it got it's material from were not the same. The wand however, remains just as powerful as it's twin, a wand that has done many a great things. Great, not good or light, however, but nevertheless great." His voice wavered ever so slightly with his last sentence, making Percy's stomach drop, just a little.

Percy could see the wand makers nervousness seep through his words. He didn't have a clue what the guy was talking about however, but did think that despite his obvious quarell, Ollivander wasn't saying he couldn't have the wand, so it can't be too bad.

"Is that a bad thing? That the wand is the same, I mean?" His voice spoke up, ending the silence that had washed over the room.

If he was one and half feet taller, he'd have been able to see the sharp look that crossed over Ollivanders eyes. The almost haunting gaze that enveloped them would have been enough for Percy to want to find a different wand. As it were, he was not 6 foot 5, and nor did he see the apprehensive gaze of the wandmaker.

"Not inherently, Percy. Simply, the wand was the twin of one carried by a most marvollous student who lost his way a little." His last sentence being something akin to a warning.

Percy could almost see right through Ollivanders words. It was plain to see that while Ollivander was telling the truth, his words had been carefully chosen.

Percy was oddly comforted by that. Ollivander was clearly a respectable man, and as such, Percy was comforted by the fact that he was trying to make sure he wasn't put off by the wand, and that the veiled warning he gave was just that, a warning, not a premonition of Percy's future.

Noticing Percy's acceptance, he fixed the wand back into the box, wrapped it in brown paper, and tyed it off with a string bow.

This exchange was silent between the two.

As Percy was exiting the store, after having paid Ollivander 9 galleons, he heard the man softly ask, "Percy?"

Turning around, he felt his mom carry on through the doorway, before he noticed the look of conviction cross the aged man's face.

"The wand in your possession is destined for a great wizard, yet it's not my place to say whether they'll be good or bad. Trust in yourself, child, and do what you feel right." Ollivander was assured in his words. He knew the young boy in front of him was special. He just knew. And that's what worried him.

Percy took his words to heart. The vote of confidence in him peppered him up. He was no longer dwelling on the negatives of this wand, and instead looked towards the future.

He let out a soft smile to the man, said, "Thank you, sir.", and followed his mother out the store.

Meeting back up with her son, Sally decided not to comment on the wand. She was afraid of the cautionary tale cited by Ollivander but knew her son would be a good man.

She looked over to him, and could practically see the cogs turning in his head. Deciding to help get his mind off of it. she asked:

"What kind of animal do you want to take with you? I wouldn't recommend an owl, you know how the act around you." she asked.

Percy did in fact know how they reacted to him. It was almost vicious. His memories of owl attacks quickly entered his mind, pushing all thoughts about his wand away.

"I'm not sure. I want a toad, because you know how I like water animals. But a cat sounds awesome too. Can't I just get one of each? Nobody will know." Percy pleaded, unable to make the decision.

Sally sighed, she knew she shouldn't let Percy, but she was in a generous mood, so she said, "Well let's get you a cat first. Then we'll SEE about a toad, okay?"

Percy's eyes dropped a little, and he mumbled "Okay."

As they entered the pet store, Percy immediately headed to where the cat section was clearly on display. He looked at each and every cat, before his eyes dropped, and he said "I don't like any of them. Guess I wont be sneaking two pets in. Though I do want to see my new toad." He perked up a bit, at the end.

He head to the toad area, and immediately all the toads started bouncing around in happiness at seeing Percy. He appeared to not know which one to pick, before he suddenly reached out and grabbed one.

"I'll have this one. I could've sworn I heard it talk to me, so it must be more magical than the others. I hope. A magical frog would be so awesome. Not to mention it looks the coolest." Percy said happily, all misery about getting no cat had suddenly left his mind. A talking frog could do that to a child, who'd have thought?

Sally took a deep breath. She knew why the toad was speaking to him, and knew that Percy was becoming self aware, though she decided to still wait, and then see at Christmas, as she didn't want him finding out and not being able to protect himself straight away. This way, his skillset he'd learn at Hogwarts would stand him in better stead.

He should be able to last a few months, right?

After Percy had finally torn his gaze away from his new favourite thing in the world, he managed to pay for his new toad, and they backed out of the store. They headed up Diagon Alley, where they came across the stone wall.

Sally was going to ask Percy to take out his wand to tap it, but it suddenly started opening up, and on the other side was Tom.

He waved at them, and helped them with their things. He spotted Percy with his toad and told him, "You know, I took a toad with me to Hogwarts. I loved it too. Shame no one else thought it was as good as I did. Don't let them try and shame you, okay? My toad did me good. Yours will too."

Percy nodded his head, he had never cared much for bullies, and doubted that would change at Hogwarts.

Tom helped them up to their rooms, and then proceeded to bid his goodbyes, and left them to sort through Percy's things.

Checking they had everything, they went down for something to eat.

Sally was nervous throughout the whole meal, knowing that her boy was going to be leaving her soon.

Percy was completely oblivious to this, and was already teaching his toad yet another trick.

It wasn't long until food came and passed, and they were heading up to their rooms.

Percy, despite it still being early, said goodnight to his mom, and headed into his room. He the looked at his stack of books, smiled, and headed to sleep.

Looking forward to the two days he had to practice all the spells he could, he felt himself nodding off, before having another dreamless night.

 **A/n - Here's another chapter for you all.**

 **For the rest of the story, I'm looking for probably around an average of 4-5k words a chapter, so if you want them longer or shorter, just let me know.**

 **Next chapter Percy will continue his journey to Hogwarts, the castle looming ever closer, so stay tuned.**

 **And as always, please fav/follow and review, I really appreciate all them all.**


	6. Parting Ways, and Classes

Percy Jackson was feeling proud of himself, for perhaps the first time in his life.

It was the day he was finally setting off to Hogwarts, and he had already packed everything he would need the day after he got his stuff. For him this was a great achievement, he usually preferred last minute rushing. Sally, of course, knew this, and told him he couldn't practice until he had finished packing.

It was safe to say Percy was swayed.

After breezing through his morning routine, Percy found himself in front of his now packed trunk. It taking only twenty minutes to pack to his liking.

Carefully opening the engraved lid, he gently placed it back, eyes catching on the soft furnishing of a velvet cushion on the underside.

Lying upon his robes which covered the rest of his items, was his wand.

It was magnificent wand, if Percy could say so himself. It was a sight to behold. The wand was simply elegant.

It looked finely crafted, and the white wood had delicate carvings into the shaft. Intricate swirls encompassed the thin wood, looping downwards before connecting at the start of the handle. The handle itself was just as magnificent. Noticeably thicker than the shaft, it had a protruding rim above and below the handhold, with rivets perfectly moulded to his fingers, allowing for comfort, making something akin to a sword handle.

Slowly picking up the instrument of monumental power, he felt the familiar rush of power flood into him. Closing his eyes, he felt an overwhelming warmth flow through him.

Inhaling deeply, before releasing, he opened his eyes, and the depths of the ocean were open to the world once more, with a visible power arching throughout them.

Feeling alive, Percy smiled.

He had never felt like this before. Not even when he first picked his wand. Had he somehow already bonded with it?

Placing the wand carefully onto his quilted bed, his eyes lost their glow a little, and the warmth left his body.

He proceeded to his trunk, before shifting the robes to access his books.

Picking out a couple of the required first year ones, he placed them besides his wand.

Unsure of where to start, he closed his eyes and grabbed a random book, and opened it to a random page.

Opening his eyes again, he looked at the page he'd landed on, was for a spell called 'Fumos'. That's as far as he got with that topic however. There was a reason he picked out a book on how to translate words.

Reaching back into his trunk, he routed around before pulling his hand back. His translation book in it.

Finding his mom watching over him, he turned to her and asked, "How was it that I could read that letter? What language was it in again?"

Sally, for as much as she expected this question, didn't know how to answer it.

"I'm not sure how you can read ancient Greek, perhaps it's a wizard thing?" She spoke softly, her throat getting drier, but still answering both questions.

Percy, also not understanding it, took the answer as gospel, and had no reason to distrust his mom.

Flipping through his translation book, Percy realised his fatal error. He never once thought to check that the book would include Ancient Greek translate spells.

Feeling like a fool, he slammed the book closed and flinged it onto his bed.

Exhaling a little, he heard a soft chuckle from his mom. Turning to look at her, he started laughing too. Typical of him to buy a book for a specific need, without checking if it actually had what he wanted.

"How am I gonna do it now?" His amusement slowly slipping away.

"Why don't you just give it a go anyway? You might surprise yourself." His mom offered, talking sense once again.

Nodding his, he turned to the book, and focused on the spell he had to do. Picking up his wand, he decided to just hold it as opposed to using the wrong wand movement first time around. He didn't miss the rush of power that filled him once again.

Making sure he had the right spell in mind,, he recited loudly, "Fumos." He looked on in wonder as an inky, wispy vapour shot out of his wand.

That was, of course, the last thing he saw. For if he was without his dyslexia, he may have realised that fumos was a smokescreen spell, and he had just enveloped their entire room with a rich black smoke.

Pleased to see that the smoke seemed harmless enough, as it didn't make him cough, he couldn't help but let out a happy, "Wow."

His mom was on the same page, despite being blinded. On his first try, without even doing the right wand movement, he produced the spell almost flawlessly.

Letting the smoke die down, Sally noticed the massive grin on his face. She smiled at him, her pride shining through her eyes.

"Can I try it again? That was so cool." Said his hyper voice.

Sally was more than happy for him to do it, so she nodded in acceptance.

He turned back to the book, made sure he had the right word still, before going again.

"Fumos." Came his loud voice.

A small tendril of smoke curled from his wand, that was it.

Creasing his brow, he tried again. Same result. Over and over again, to no avail.

Getting frustrated, he shouted it out, while flailing his wand about in every direction.

Nothing else happened.

"For God sake, mom, why's it not working?!" He nearly shouted, before lobbing his wand away. "I haven't already used up my magic? Can you even use up magic?" He started rambling

"I'm not sure Percy, just take a deep breath and maybe try making sure you're saying the word correctly. You might be misspronouncing it?" Came his mother's words of wisdom.

Percy closed his eyes and nodded.

Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to control his annoyance and anger, he focused on the word pronunciation, and started saying it again, to become accustomed to it.

"Fumos..." He started, before coming to an abrupt pause.

Considering his wand still lay discarded on his bed, he wasn't expecting the spell to work.

No, he most certainly wasn't expecting the spell to be seeping out of his left palm. It was by no means as powerful as from his wand, anything but, yet there was still an effect.

Instead of being the same dark black, this was a light grey-ish colour. It also didn't completely envelope the room, this time, it sort of looked like steam when you get out of the shower, nothing to blind you, but enough that your eyesight isn't pitch perfect.

Percy, however, didn't care much for what it looked like, he was just shocked he'd done it without a wand

He tried it again, though this time to no avail. He tried it again a few more times, all to nothing but a slight wisp from his palm. Deciding to quit before he got annoyed again, he reached for the spell books and his wand once more.

Flipping through to another spell, he landed on one with an equally strange name, _Reparo_.

Also not caring what this one does, aiming to be surprised just like with the last spell, he held his wand, the same power still rushing through him, having not diminished in the slightest, making him feel like a god.

Clearing his throat a little, he peered down at the text book, checking he's got the spell right, before he recited it.

Nothing happened.

Frowning a little, he tried it one more time.

Still nothing.

He scrutinised his text book, and was sure he got the pronunciation right. He went and collected his book, before heading over to his mom.

"Am I saying it right?" He asked.

Sally, sitting up in her chair, took the book from his offering hands, before scanning the page.

She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Percy's eyes narrowed, "What have I done this time?"

"The spell you're trying to do, it's called a mending charm. It's supposed to fix broken things. And since nothing is broke ..." Sally answered him, her amusement just barely seeping into her words.

 _... Nothing will be fixed,_ he finished in his head.

Blushing slightly, he decided to move on from that spell, seeing no use in it for the minute.

Flipping to yet another random page, he glanced at the spell name, _Flipend_ o. Also a weird one.

Before trying it, he straight away turned to his mom. The silent request was answered immediately, and Sally took the book once again.

Reading it over, she said, "You should be able to do this one. It says that you can use it to 'knock back' objects and opponents. Aptly named the Knock Back jinx."

Percy's eyes lit up at the prospect of more magic, and voiced his thanks.

He readied his wand, and was just about to cast it, before he realised he had nothing to cast it on.

Glancing around the room for a minute, he noticed an old stool in the corner. Quickly grabbing it, he looked for the best place to put it, before settling on the bed, to make it eye level to him.

Clearing his throat, he aimed his magic stick at the stool, before saying, "Flipendo."

Of course with Percy's luck, he had to perform the spell well. A little too well.

He'd sent the stool careening into the wall, where it promptly splintered into a thousand pieces, but not before creating a stool imprint on the wall.

Wincing at his handiwork, he turned to his mom, before gulping.

Sally seemed just as taken aback as he was, clearly not expecting him to do that.

Turning to look at him, her surprise written on her face, she let her jaw drop a little. Shaking her head, and herself out of her shock, she started to see the funny side.

Percy didn't. How was he meant to tell the landlord Tom?

Asking his mom that, he saw her adopt a look he's been familiar with for quite a while. A look that says she has unlimited patience, but she did think he was being a bit daft.

Drawing blanks, he couldn't figure out why.

Shaking her head at him, probably a little exasperated, she smiled, before saying, "it's a perfect chance to try out that spell from before, Reparo."

And just like that, it clicked. Letting out a sigh of embarrassment, he closed his eyes and mumbled something akin to an agreement.

Readying his wand again, he said, "Reparo." And the wall was fixed. As simple as that. From him saying the words, the wall patched itself together in about 5 seconds. The stool too.

Now, he wouldn't claim complete mastery over these spells, as he'd never been able to do these spells more than the once, and he was only able to do it from his hand one single time, but when he did magic from his wand, he felt like he did the spell very potently.

Now he just had to figure out why he couldn't ever do the spell after the first time.

As he was about to start learning more, they discovered that it was about midday, and decided to go get some food after missing breakfast.

Percy didn't know where the time went, but figured he spent far longer than he thought getting wound up by the lack of working his spells had.

Percy followed after his mom, his stomach rumbling. He had definitely missed breakfast.

Heading to the main floor of The Leaky Cauldron, he started spinning his wand around his fingers, like he'd been practicing with the pen his dad gave him.

Having not found use of the pen, he had no reason to actually use it, and as such hadn't yet uncapped it. He'd been tempted, but his gut instinct told him to do so when the time was right.

As they made their way into the pub area, they went up to the bartender. Tom noticed them instantly, and gave them a welcoming smile.

As Sally walked up to the counter to order them some drinks and a bit of food, Percy continued fiddling with his wand.

Tom, after taking their order and passing it through to the back, turned to Percy and asked him, "You practiced any magic yet?"

Percy, not expecting to be talked to, had let his thoughts drift him away. That is until his moms elbow jarred him back, making him drop his wand.

Bending down to pick it up, he looked at his mom in bemusement. She simply gestured to Tom who had a slight smile on his face.

Percy, who realised he must have been asked something, felt a slight heat raise to his cheeks.

"Um sorry, I was daydreaming a little." He apologised to the landlord, who just took it in his stride,

"Not to worry mate, I just asked if you'd been practicing any magic yet." Came his accented voice.

Percy couldn't stop his enthusiastic nodding.

"I've managed to try and do some from one of my text books. Though I could only do them once." He informed the curious man.

"That's a surprise that lad. Usually students need to have multiple lessons to do spells from the given text books. Good on ya lad. Must be the toad, always a sign of a good wizard." Tom said, winking as he did. "Though I'm not too sure why you've only been able to do them once."

"Well that's not quite true, I was able to do fumos twice, once from my wand, once from my hand. But the others I couldn't do after my first try. I just thought I could only do each spell a day or something." Percy started rambling, to which if he didn't know better, would think he likes the sound of his own voice.

Tom's facial expressions underwent a very drastic change throughout Percy's admission. From a tad curious, to full blown shocked, to suspicion part way through. This boy was not only claiming to have produced magic on each of the first attempts of the spells he tried doing, but is also suggesting that he can do wandless magic, something which many acclaimed wizards cannot do, as an 11 year old.

Though, if what the boy had said is true, it was most odd that he was only able to do each spell once and only once, as there was no 1 spell rule.

Realising he'd spent the better part of a minute with his jaw on the floor, he righted himself, before gathering his words. Thankful that the two didn't seem to think he was doing anything other than contemplate what to say, perhaps he wasn't as obvious as he thought, or maybe they were just lost in their own musings.

"My best idea for why you can only do each spell once, is that you maybe lost concentration on the other tries. Magic needs a lot of focus to be successful, so any turbulent mind would cause either severely weakened forms, incorrect spells, or just not happen. That's my best guess." He told Percy, and didn't fail to notice the proverbial light bulb go off in his mother's head. She must have found some wisdom in his words.

Percy, however, seemed to forget about his adhd, and couldn't fathom why his thoughts wouldn't be focused. Though he didn't air his grievances, as he was still new to wizardry, and Tom was trying to help.

The notion that he could produce magic correctly the first time he tried each spell, and the fact he could do wandless magic, went untouched upon. All deciding to not mention it, for different reasons. Tom was too shocked to, Percy because he didn't see it as a big deal, and Sally because she'd been too busy wondering about her son's adhd and how that might affect his studies.

The conversation between the three dwindled into mundane small talk, befor two eventually left for their table, and the one to see to other customers.

After finishing their meal, they headed over to Tom to express their thanks, to which he expressed his gratitude by giving Percy another couple spells to learn.

"Just before you go Percy, I've got a couple of easy spells you can learn, and then use at Hogwarts. If you want?" He said, kinda hoping the boy would say yes, as he knew it would be handy for the kid. And he could see that he was a bit of a troublemaker, his smirk gave it away, and knew he'd enjoy this spell if he so wished to use it in that way.

Percy's eyes widened a tad, and nodded his head, before admitting he would.

Tom smiled, and said, "The first one is finite, and it's handy for reverting any curses and jinx's that you do. Quite handy when you jinx your friends. The second one is petrificus totalus. This one allows you to freeze your opponent for a short amount of time, very handy in a junior duel, and such."

As Percy listened to Tom saying this. he was aware that for each spell, he'd move his hands in the appropriate gesture, though Percy didn't pay much attention to that, he hadn't needed gestures just yet.

After Percy bid Tom farewell, he met with his mom again, who'd waited just off to the side, having carried on not realising straight away that Percy stayed to talk.

As he reached her, Sally asked him what it was about. He just recited what he could remember of what Tom had said. Though he was bummed to not have a live target to practice on, after vehemently refusing to try on his mom.

The rest of his free time was spent much of the same. He would pick a random spell, and try it, and then not be able to do it again, though he did learn that it was down to his attention difficulties. Once he found this out, he was able to pick his consistency with spells up a tiny bit.

He also practiced with producing the magic without a wand. It was to the same success as the first time, with him doing it, but to a very lesser degree. He got to a point where every spell he could do with his wand, he'd be able to do with his hand.

He also had the idea to try nonverbal magic. He didn't know where it came from, all he knew was that it seemed like the next logical step, meaning he shouldn't have thought of it.

He had far less success with this.

He was able to do a couple of the spells with his wand without saying the words, and they were nowhere near as potent as when he said them. They were much like his wandless magic skills, very dilute. He also found out he couldn't produce nonverbal, and wandless magic. Ever? He wasn't sure, but he certainly couldn't at the minute.

He would like to say he had mastered the spells he'd done, all 12 of them, but he was by no means competent enough to do them every time due to his lack of focus. It could have been 15, but he didn't dare risk two on his mom, which meant he couldn't use the counter curse either.

Although he felt like he was closest to mastering 'reparo', after having to use it more than any other spell.

It was safe to say he was pleased with what he'd done though. He'd manage to remember the names of all of the spells he'd tried, and (with varying success) had managed to perform each spell a couple times.

His success rate wasn't pride worthy though, from his point if view, so he conveniently swept that under the rug.

He still felt like he'd be behind though, because if that's what he could find out in 2 days, just think what the ones who have known about magic for years could do.

Not dwelling on this, he started to pack everything away, before casting a quick 'reparo' to make sure nothing was broken.

He straightened out his trunk, made sure everything was there, before closing it, and then casting 'alohomora' and checking that it worked.

It hadn't.

His annoyance rose once more, but he pushed those feelings down, closed his eyes, and cleared his mind. Took him a while, cause he started thinking of something different all the time, but managed it in the end.

Trying again, with a focused mind, he cast the spell once more, congratulating himself once he found it working.

Setting his wand next to his pen on the nightstand, he went and said good night to his mom.

She smiled at him softly, bidding him one too, before he turned to his room, and lay on his bed. Thoughts about tomorrow encompassing his thoughts. He was going to Hogwarts. To do magic. Hogwarts. Magic.

With these on his mind, he drifted away into yet another blissful nights sleep.

In no time, he was awake again, with the morning sun shining through his curtains.

Yawning as he stretched, Percy swung his legs to the side of his bed, sitting on the edge.

He glanced over to his bedside table, looking at his beautiful wand lying beside his gifted pen, he was really doing it. He was really going to a magic school.

He practically pranced out of his bed, before rushing to take a shower.

Letting the warm water cascade over him, he relished in the alertness he suddenly felt. The alertness he always feels in water. Quickly washing up, he rinsed himself off, and turned off the tap. He still wasn't quite used to how the Brits had their showers and taps, but he was slowly learning. Slowly.

Stepping out of the shower, he dried himself off, before stepping into the clothes he brought with him. His hand now instinctively heading to his pocket, feeling calmed by the feel of the pen in his right pocket.

He'd started thinking that the pen was magical. He could never remember moving it to his new clothes, so just assumed that considering his dad is a wizard, and this was a gift from him, then it was magical, and he could never lose it, which he knew would come in very handy for the forgetful boy.

Going back into his room, he was lost in thought, only broken out of his musings by his mom knocking on the door. Blinking his ideas away, he told her that she could "Come in."

Poking her head through the door, Percy could see her inner turmoil. He knew that she was excited about the prospect of him going to Hogwarts, but also knew that she was saddened by the thoughts of being without him for so long.

In his attempt to reassure her, he grinned at his mom, and was happy to see her face light up a little at his beaming smile.

After this little tender exchange, there wasn't much of any meaningful moments, until they were walking through Kings Cross Station.

They had left the Leaky Cauldron, after checking they had cleared up their rooms, and having a filling full English breakfast. They soon waved goodbye to Tom, before stepping into the busy street, seemingly appearing out of nowhere to the _muggles._

 _Muggles._ The word still felt weird to him. In fact, most words from the magic community were weird to him.

They managed to hail a cab, before setting off for Kings Cross. They were pretty much silent for the half an hour ride, only making polite small talk with the cabbie. It wasn't until they stepped outside of the black cab, and stood in front of the station, did they realise it was truly real.

Retrieving both of their luggage, as Sally was heading home, they headed into the busy station.

Making quick progress, they soon landed on platform 9. Turning to her child, Sally layed her hands on his shoulders, before bending a little so she was at eye level.

Looking into his eyes, she said what's been on her mind for a while now, "Oh I'm going to miss you so much Percy. I can't believe you're going to a magical school, all the way in Scotland." Tears dripped from her eyes as she brought Percy into a hug.

Percy didn't know what to do. The only time he had seen his mom cry was when he asked about his dad, and even then that was just a light misting. She didn't even cry when he went off to boarding school, she was always strong for him.

So why was this different.

He felt a little awkward, unsure of how to best comfort her, as he had no experience in this department.

Pulling a little away, so he could speak to her face, he tried reassuring her. Smiling, he told her that, "It's okay mom, I'm not that far away. And I'll write to you every day, always. And I'll be back for Christmas, you just wait and see, I'll be home before you know it."

Blinking away her tears, Sally smiled down at him, he was such a caring boy. Always trying his best to make sure she was happy, knowing that his 'afflictions' caused her problems.

She took his right hand in hers, resting it on her palm before putting her other hand over the top, cupping it in hers. Soothingly rubbing patterns onto it, she told him that she'll be okay, and for him not to worry.

He just hugged her again, not wanting to let go, having second thought about leaving his mom.

She just embraced him too, before slowly unwrapping his arms, and telling him, "You're going there mister, I won't have you leaving a school before even going there," wiggling her eyebrows jokingly.

Percy couldn't help but giggle a little, all second thought emptying from his mind. He nodded his head, before brushing his face, wiping tears away that he didn't realise he'd shed.

Taking a breath to settle his nerves, he headed to a pillar between platform 9 and 10, just like Dumbledore told him to do, on one of his visits.

He turned to his mom, taking in her appearance for probably the last time in a few months. He took her in, committing her to memory, focusing mainly on her kaleidoscopic eyes.

His mom would have come with him to the platform, but she was also in a rush to make her own train.

As he ran towards the pillar, he soared a glancing look at his mom, only taking note of her waving hand, before he passed through the pillar.

 **A/n, he's almost at Hogwarts now, only the train ride to go.**

 **Tell me what you thought of it, drop a comment, and leave a vote, I always love to see them.**


	7. Train Rides, and New Friendships

Coming out the other side, he immediately noticed the crowd. It seemed like the entire platform was covered by people. He had to push his way through the robe garbed wizards, and children his age and up pushing trolleys filled to the brim with their stuff.

Managing to get through the crowd, he finally caught sight of the train. And it was certainly worth the wait. It was just like those old coal trains people used to ride, and was painted with a vibrant scarlet red, with a midnight black edging. It was spectacular. A true sight to behold.

Too caught up in the majesty the train held, he didn't keep his eyes on where he was going, until a loud ' _clang'_ sounded.

He'd crashed his trolley into someone else's.

The impact jarred his elbows, sending a pain through them. Stretching them out, he turned to look at the person he crashed into.

It was a boy, a tall and very thin boy, around his age. Who had gangling arms and legs, with a pair of big hand and feet. Freckles painted his face, surrounding his long nose. With fiery hair, the same as the family he was with, who were looking at me in amusement.

Noticing some of the boys things had tipped out, he bent down to help him, apologising to him as he did so.

The boy introduced himself. " It's alright mate, I wasn't looking where I was going either." He started, before adding, "I'm Ron by the way," He said, extending his arm. "Ron Weasley."

Percy quickly shook his offered hand and told him, "My name's Percy Jackson."

He certainly wasn't expecting Ron's reaction. Why did he seem so shocked by his name? Was it uncommon in the wizarding world.

Ron, not seeing Percy's confusion, but still answering his unasked question, said, "My brothers called Percy too. He's standing there by mum and dad. With my other siblings."

Percy looked over to the family Ron was with, and gesturing to, and noticed a boy with the parental figures, who looked a lot like Ron, only older. He too was tall and thin, and also had the Weasley family trademark red hair and freckles, though he was also wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.

Standing close enough to the family, it was clear they had heard his and Ron's exchange (except the two parents who seemed to be talking between themselves), as Percy, once named, strode over to Percy the younger with purpose, before also offering his hand.

"Percy Weasley. Prefect for Gryffindor." He said, with a tad attitude of holier than thou, but Percy didn't mind, he was sure if followed in the elder boys footsteps he'd be able to live up to his promise, so a bit of arrogance couldn't hurt. He also shook this boys hand.

"I'm also called Percy. Though mine's short for Perseus. You're a prefect? You must be a really good student." He fired off rapidly, images (delusions?) of himself getting a prefect badge running through his mind.

He didn't fail to hear a snicker from some of the others gathered around, most probably from the two twins, who had clear amusement on their face. These also had the flaming hair, and the freckles, though they looked shorter and stockier than their brothers, but still tall. They also seemed to get their nose genes from their mother, who had a bigger nose.

His name twin, however, looked quite pleased by his mini rant. Even offering a tight smile. "Mines short for Percival, and I like to believe I'm a good student. Heaven knows I'm better than those two." This Weasley was also fond of gesturing, aimed at the two twins.

Both of whom looked about to retort, until a loud whistle stopped them. The train was about to go.

He turned back to Ron and said, "Can I meet you on the train? I don't really know anybody here."

He looked at the boy in question in apprehension, until Ron's face lit up and he said, "Of course, I'll save you a seat!"

Percy smiled widely and gave his thanks.

He briefly heard the twins mutter something about seeing a boy from outside the platform struggling with his bags, so they were going to offer their help.

He could feel eyes on him, and as he looked around the platform for one last time, to take it all in, his eyes locked with another pair. A pair of beautiful bright brown eyes, much like her mother's.

She must be Ron's sister.

He offered her a smile, which she returned with her own along with her cheeks flaming the same as her hair. She must have been embarrassed at being caught staring.

He offered an awkward wave to her, before turning on the spot and heading over to a man who was collecting the trolleys.

He missed her wave, and her look of disappointment.

After managing to board the the train with his great big trunk, he walked past numerous different carriages, peering in through the doorways to spot the only boy he knew.

He needn't have bothered, because it wasn't long before he heard a door slam open, and a young red head get pushed out, gently enough to be safe, yet hard enough to remove him.

He heard the boy speak up, while knocking on the door, his voice signifying it was Ron, "Aw c'mon George, just let me sit with you. I don't know anybody, and neither does the boy from the platform."

He was practically pounding on the door by now.

He could faintly hear a voice, assuming it to be George, say, "Is poor Ronnykins lonely? You can make new friends, can't you?" And a couple of snickers.

Ron just glared at the door, his ears turning red, before turning around, noticing he had an audience.

Ron's glared immediately lessened, though he was clearly still pissed.

"Sorry about that, mate. Fred and George are just being muppets, won't let us ride with 'em." His words laced with anger.

While Percy thought the twins were a bit mean, he could also understand them wanting their space away from their younger brother, so he told Ron to just follow their advice.

"There's bound to be other first years who don't know anyone, why don't we just go to them?" His mom appeared to be rubbing off on him, as he was now spouting out words of wisdom.

Ron still looked a little put out, he probably looked up to his older brothers and was annoyed at being snubbed, but he still acquiesced to this plan. The twins didn't seem like bad people, but he could tell they liked to wind people up and mess around.

Heading down the compartments, they kept coming to full ones. Becoming more and more flustered, and more and more desperate, they were about ready to give up when thet noticed each carriage was getting less and less full. Each still had a plethora of elder students though.

They managed to find an empty carriage, well empty except for a solitary figure, who gazed out at the passing country. He also looked quite young, so they figured him for a first year.

Opening up the door, he saw the boys head whip round to him, his mop of black hair whipping around behind him, showing off some kind of funny marking on his forehead.

This kid had on some old, beaten up glasses sitting on his nose. He looked criminally under fed, and had loosely fitting clothes wrapped around him. Nevertheless, once his emerald green eyes layed Ron, he let out a small smile.

Ron whispered in Percy's ear, "We met outside, he didn't know how to get through the barrier."

Percy nodded at Ron's words, an answer to a question he didn't even know he wanted the answer to.

He smiled at the boy in the compartment, and asked him, "Are these seats free?" Pointing at the ones opposite Harry, "Only we've been all over the train and can't find an empty compartment." He added, hopefully.

The boy nodded.

The two entered into the room, and got themselves comfy opposite the other occupant.

Percy found his mind wandering, only catching snippets of Ron and the other boys conversation. He was too busy thinking about what Hogwarts will have in-store.

He was only broken out of it by a sharp gasp from Ron. Tuning back in, he focused on what Ron was now saying.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" Exclaimed Ron, his shock and awe apparent in his voice. "I'd have thought you, of all people ..." Ron trailed off as the boy quickly interrupted.

"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said the boy, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." Ron said, trying to reassure him.

It was at this point he zoned out again, it wasn't his fault, but the conversation drifted to a more mundane topic.

Percy did also Know-Who. The headmaster told him and his mom a little about the problems the wizarding world has had to face, before putting their minds at ease and making it known how this powerful dark wizard fell.

A baby, no less.

A baby defeated the most dangerous wizard to ever live. Left unharmed, except for the lightning scar resting on his forehead.

 _Wait a minut_ e, he thought. _No, it couldn't be. Could it?_

Percy's eyes bulged out of their sockets. He whipped around and faced the boy who was talking animatedly with Ron.

 _My god, it is him._ Percy confirmed after catching sight of his scar when he laughed at Ron's joke.

Not being able to control his tongue, he blurted out, "You're Harry Potter!"

Both of them stopped talking.

One boy was looking a little embarrassed and flustered, while the other was laughing his ass off. Well not quite, but he did let out a good few chuckles.

"Er yes, I am." Came the boys timid reply.

"Hey Percy, where's your head been at? I've tried to involve you, but you were in a world of your own, just staring out the window." Ron said, in stark contrast to his new friend, as he let his amusement seep through, though there seemed to be a tinge of concern. Not enough to be weird, however.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking. It's hard for me to concentrate sometimes. I wasn't meaning to be rude." Percy's cheeks were flushed red in embarrassment.

"Wait, you're American?" Interrupted the boy who lived.

Percy nodded.

Ron now chose to speak up, not commentating on his place of birth.

"Think nothing of it mate, but since you're ..." was as far as Ron got, before there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said,

"Anything off the cart, dears?"

He vaguely noticed Harry jump to his feet, but was too focused on Ron. His ears had turned a bright pink, and he mumbled something about a sandwich, the same one he had brought from his pocket and was now holding.

Percy was upset. Never being one who lived a life of luxury, he knew full well the position Ron was in. He'd done the exact same thing.

Taking a quick glance at Ron, he noticed the smudge on his nose, to his hand-me-down clothes. Thinking to the family he saw on the platform, and how big it was, and vaguely recalling overhearing something about even more brothers, he doubted the Weasley's were well off.

And Percy was sad. He'd never had any money, he'd been in the same position as Ron not 3 weeks ago, he hadn't even been clothes shopping and still had his ratty old clothes on, and then he suddenly had a vault filled to the brim with gold, it wasn't fair. And it made him angry.

The Weasley's seemed like such a nice family, it wasn't right for them to not have money. In fact, it wasn't right for anyone to not have any money.

Leaping to his feet, and following Harry to the cart, he decided he was going to get more than enough for them all.

Turns out, he needn't have bothered. Harry also seemed to have the same idea. He had to move to the side so Harry could fit past with his arms overflowing with different candy.

Deciding to just get some for himself, and a couple more things for the rest of the group, he headed back into the compartment.

He could already see Harry trying to give some stuff to Ron, by offering some of his candy in exchange for Ron's sandwiches. Percy had to smile at that, he was giving Ron a way to get some things he wanted, while still keeping some dignity.

Seemed like the most famous wizard ever, has a compassionate heart.

Percy, while having nowhere near as much as Harry, still got a lot, so he took what he wanted and added the rest to Harry's pile.

And they just sat and enjoyed sharing their treats with each other.

There was the novelty of the chocolate frogs, and their respective cards. Ron had a good time wading his way through the large pile, and Harry started his card collection.

Percy tried a couple, but couldn't get the image of his own toad out of his mind. And he had to make sure it was still in his pocket and hadn't switched with the one he was about to eat.

They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. Percy's started off well, before he tasted vomit from one, and couldn't bring himself to have any more.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy that Harry seemed to recognise, noted Percy.

He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When the group shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry, optimistically.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."

He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.

"And what's wrong with a toad?" Piped up Percy, reaching into his jacket pocket to retrieve his toad.

Ron went pink.

"Well... Well nothing I suppose. Just they went out of fashion years ago," said Ron, trying to explain himself, "Besides, I suppose it's better than a rat, he might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust, glaring at the slumbering rat.

"I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out.

He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er - all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you."  
She said all this very fast.

Harry and Ron were befuddled. They each shared a look telling that neither of them had even opened up their textbooks.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

Percy was about to offer his name, as Hermione was glancing his way, before she suddenly looked back at Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" said Harry, looking dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

"I could show you a couple spells if you want? I don't know how to change your pets colour, but I did learn a couple from the textbook. I can show you as well Harry."

Harry's eyes widened, before he nodded, a little gleefully. Seems he was as enamoured by magic as Percy was. Ron also looked interested, but more about the prospect of finally doing magic, and not so much the spectacle of magic.

"Here's one. The first one I ever tried. I think it's like a smoke bomb spell."

He reached into his left shoe, brought out his wand, closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths to focus his mind, causing Harry to lean forward in anticipation.

"Fumos." His voice, loud and clear.

For the benefit of the two wizards with him, he did the proper wand movements he found when revisiting the spell, so they could attempt it afterwards.

Both Ron and Harry's eyes widened as a black plume of smoke clouded out of the tip of his wand. It rapidly filled the room.

"Cool." Exclaimed Harry.

"Bloody hell." Ron whispered at the same time.

Holding his wand again, this time Percy said, "Finite." And the smoked rushed back into his wand.

They all watched as the last few wisps disappeared.

"Wish George had taught me a proper spell." Muttered Ron, sound equally angry and awed.

"Well you've got me now. Wanna try it? I'll show you both the wand gestures again." Percy said, kind of relishing the opportunity to teach someone a spell.

At seeing their agreement, he performed the hand action again, taking care to not think of the spell, lest he did nonverbal magic.

Once he was satisfied that they had managed to get it down, he taught them the spell, and then had them recite it back to him to get their pronunciation right.

When they had it good enough, he asked Ron to try it, since he was pretty bummed out about his own spell.

Watching as he performed the right action, and said the right word. Percy was surprised to see that nothing happened. He let Ron try it a few more times, all to the same success.

Creasing his brow, he said, "I was taught that you had to be focusing on the spell and to not let your mind wander, as magic needs a lot of focus. That's why I took some calming breathes beforehand, cause I can't focus well, give it a try."

Ron had been focusing, and was getting more and more wound up. Following Percy's advice, he tried breathing and calming down.

He couldn't.

Trying the spell one more time, he wasn't surprised by it not working, and neither was Percy.

Percy was a bit put out. He'd been doing everything correctly by correcting any imperfections, yet he couldn't get Ron to focus his mind. Guess he wasn't cut out to be a teacher.

Still, deciding to comfort Ron, he told him, "Don't worry, I couldn't manage it at first it took me ages, and I even had the textbook instructions to help guide me. All you have is me. I'm sure a proper teacher could help you." He lied through his teeth, but was pleased to see it had the right effect on Ron, as the boy in question was no longer sulking. He didn't fail to notice Harry sit a little straighter when he said this, perhaps anticipating his turn.

Turning to Harry, and seeing him sitting a lot straighter than he was a minute ago, Percy said, "Do you fancy giving it a go?"

And Harry did. He also failed at first. Yet he had so much more patience than Ron, and was able to keep himself calm. It took him a good 15 tries, but he was able to do the spell.

Though it wasn't as potent as Percy's. In fact it was probably even weaker than when Percy first tried it from his hand. But he still succeeded. And for that, Percy was pleased.

"You're a good teacher, you know Percy. You made sure I corrected everything, and you're breathing trick really worked." Harry practically beamed at Percy.

Ron wasn't as happy. He thought that Percy did a good job of teaching them what to do, but he just couldn't do the spell.

Percy was worried. It had taken him all of one try to correctly do the fumos charm, and he hadn't even needed to do the correct wand movements, he just held his wand. He could also do it without his wand, and without saying anything.

And he'd tried it less time than Harry had, and about the same times as Ron had before he gave up. Was he a freak?

Ron, thankfully, turned the subject away from magic, and onto the subject that girl from before was talking about. Hogwarts houses.

He heard Harry as Ron, "What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him once again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?" Inquired Harry, knowing full well it was.

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

Neither of them could think of anything to cheer him up. He was clearly afraid of not being able to live up to his family's shadow, and wasn't able to do the spell (though he did give up far too easily).

"So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"  
Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school, and thought he'd keep Ron engaged.

Percy was also curious. When he wasn't paying attention before, he must have missed them talking about Ron's family.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about  
Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."

Harry just stared, before saying, "Really? What happened to them?"

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

Percy could see the cogs in Harry's mind turning this news over in his mind. It also helped that he was doing the exact same thing.

Before either of them could further question Ron, they felt the train start to slow down. That's when they noticed they hadn't changed into their robes yet.

Quickly rushing to each of their chests, in a mad scramble to get ready.

Percy, casting a quick _alohomora,_ he unlocked his trunk. Hastily grabbing his robes, he started changing. Pulling on his robes, he shifted his wand into his left pocket, from his shoe, now having enough space to store it in a better position.

They all managed to change in time, and witnessed the train pulling into a station. They each got their trunk, and made their way to the exit.

 _This is it,_ Percy thought, _I've arrived._

And he stepped off the train.

 **An- sorry for the really long delay, college has been getting me swamped, and I never found the time to proof all my previous chapters, something which I wanted to do before uploading a new chapter.**

 **I managed to make it work however, so here you go, another really long chapter, I hope you enjoy.**

 **And as always, fav and review, it makes me feel loved.**


	8. Prejudice! and Premonitions?

Percy Jackson was often left embarrassed by his actions, but never more so than now.

Getting off the train, he severely underestimated the size of the step to the platform, so as he stepped normally, he found his foot hitting nothing but air.

Stumbling out of the compartment and onto the cold slab below him, he didn't fail to notice the kid he sent flying with him.

Tripping over the poor boy, he felt his knee slam into the hard pavement and pain flare through his body. It subsided quite quickly as he felt a very small trickle of liquid ooze around the hurting area. Quickly pressing his hand to his knee, he felt the fabric of his robes become wetter and wetter, before drawing his hand back and seeing a tiny patch of blood on the palm of his hand.

 _Great, just my luck,_ he thought, _I'm_ _not even 5_ _seconds_ _in, and_ _I've_ _already nearly gotten_ _myself_ _killed._

Upon failing to see the lack of correlation between a slightly cut knee, and the prospect of death, he then realised something a bit more pressing in the boy currently cursing under his breath and moaning a tad.

Shooting up, the pain in his knee now gone completely for some reason, he quickly marched to the boy he nearly killed, before rolling him over, and seeing just who it was.

"Harry!?" A startled exclamation came from his mouth. Looking back on it, he would have probably commended himself for being able to tell it was Harry in the first place. He must have made Harry face plant the ground, which has caused his glasses to smash and shards of glass pierce his skin.

Gulping a little nervously, Percy became a little unsettled by the rivers of red streaming from Harry's nose and brow. Wishing Ron was hear to help take a little of the awkwardness away, he was remisce to remember one of his brothers call him away.

"Hey Percy, long time no see. Well, no see for me right now, I guess." Harry tried to chuckle, and not let on about the fact that he'd possibly just shattered his nose.

Smiling a little with the reassurance that Harry wasn't pissed, Percy quickly tried assessing the situation.

Whipping out his wand, he recited one of the spells he'd learn before getting on the train.

"Reparo." A strong voice spoke, with the appropriate hand movements, but nothing happened. More than a little confused, Percy tried again, to the same luck.

Trying his damned hardest to remember, he thought back to his self taught lesson, to see if there was anything he needed to know. He just couldn't come up with the goods. He deduced that he needed a specific qualifier in front of it, but he didn't know what that was.

Going for broke, he decided to just say a bunch of different things to see if they work. To no avail.

He tried your bog standard "glasses reparo", to a more outlandish "eye help see thing reparo" which, to no surprise, didn't work.

It felt like it had been ages, but in truth it was only a couple of minutes. Which was more than enough time for Harry to right himself, and start walking down the long platform with Percy, whom would stop him every 10 seconds to try a new spell.

Nearly giving up hope, he heard a far away voice almost whisper the words in his ear, "Occulus Reparo".

A lightbulb switched on in his head.

 _Occulus,_ of course. It was after all mentioned in his book. It's only now that he remembered it.

Whipping his head around, he searched for the voice, only to see nobody paying them any real interest, other than those looking at Harry's scar in wonderment.

"Hey Harry, I've got it, I've got the right spell." Percy was practically bouncing around now, forgetting about the mysterious voice, and was more than overjoyed at finally being able to help the person he could have blinded.

" _Sigh,_ You've had the right spell 50 times already, Percy. Look how that's turned out." Came the other black haired boys reply.

Percy taking this criticism on the chin, still made Harry stop in his tracks and turn to face him, before gesturing for Harry to hold the glasses in front of him.

"Occulus reparo." And just like that, Percy was vindicated.

Harry first felt a very sharp pain in his brow, and he could feel something moving. Fearing the worst that his suspicions about Percy being an untrained wizard were correct, and his exploits back in the carriage were a fluke, he got worried. He still maintained an overwhelming belief in Percy's abilities, however, and was happy to feel the pain start receding.

He could make out through his slightly blurred vision, that his glasses were floating just above his outstretched hand, and the previously shattered glass start melting together again.

With a faint _pop_ , the spell was complete, and the glasses dropped back into his hand.

Testing them out, he placed them on his head and could see Percy's beaming smile, clear as day. He started feeling a little giddy and awed.

Percy was feeling the same. Magic was something else.

"Wo-wow, you've actually fixed them." Sputtered Harry.

Percy just smiled and nodded in reply. Content to allow Harry the same feeling of wonderment that Percy always felt when magic was concerned.

Talking about aimless things for the rest of their walk, all three boys (now that Ron had finally joined up with them) had tiny thoughts float around the back of their heads.

For Harry, he was happy that he met Ron and Percy, and was hopeful they would be good friends.

Percy's thoughts weren't too dissimilar to Harry's.

Ron's concerns varied the most. If he had perhaps a more calm mind, he too would be thinking about his new friends and how he wouldn't have to stick with his older brothers, but as it stands, he was still partially seething.

It had been playing on his mind that he couldn't do any magic, and was sad that he might end up being a squib. That's the reason he went to see his brother, Percy. He didn't dare ask Fred or George for help, lest he came away with a 2nd nose, because while he knew they cared, they sometimes blurred the lines of when to be silly and when to be serious.

He actually got some solid advice from his brother. Well, if you shaved away the pompous tone. He was basically told that before even going to Hogwarts, especially with only a fellow first year teaching you, the chances of you being able to produce purposeful magic was incredibly slim, and that there was no shame in coming second fiddle to the one who defeated the greatest dark wizard of all time.

Ron could take a lot of comfort in that, and it did help calm him. After all, he had heard stories of the great Harry Potter all throughout his childhood. He was already placed in the same category of magical prowess as Dumbledore by the vast majority.

That's not to say he didn't want to be as powerful as Harry, but he knew that wouldn't ever happen, which is why he was currently still reeling whilst walking with his two new friends.

All three of them were lost in their aimless chit chatter and scattered thoughts, that they almost didn't see Hagrid (whom Harry introduced properly to them all, apparently the two became well acquainted when Harry first learnt he was a wizard), waving all the first years over, until they heard his thundering voice.

"FIRS' YEARS, O'ER 'ERE!" The very large, and very wide man spoke. A great mane of shaggy hair, framing his portly face.

Percy shook himself of the amicable silence that enveloped the three new friends, and took in his surroundings.

He was on a lengthy train platform, well lit by hanging lights, which shone off the beautiful red hull of the Hogwarts Express. Well fitting slabs of stone paved the walkway, none loose to trip over.

Casting his eyes back to the train, he noticed that there was still people getting off of the train. Just how many students were there? And better yet, why has it felt like an eternity since they got off? They weren't even the first ones off.

Voicing his thoughts, he asked the two, "How long ago did we get off the train?"

Both boys looked confused.

"About ten minutes ago." Added Ron, before Harry interrupted and said,

"More like 5. Why? You feeling okay?"

Percy wasn't happy.

"No reason, just curious." He replied.

Both boys looked convinced.

 _Phew_ , Percy thought. He had to blame it on his ADHD. His mind moving faster than the flow of conversation. But it didn't feel like that.

 _No, not ADHD, surely._ _Magic has helped me to_ _not_ _lose myself to my impulses. It felt more like time moved a tad slower than normal._ Percy didn't dwell too much. A common occurrence for him nowadays.

As he thought that last sentence, the otherwise bright fire in the sky forsook its defensive post, disappearing over the tips of distant hills. Raising its shield of relief from bitter Scottish nights.

A cold wind chilled the air.

Percy's enamour with the crisp, clean air soon took over his worries. He'd never breathed air as clear as this.

Filling his lungs, before slowly letting out a deep breath, he took one last cursory glance at the beautiful amalgamation of vibrant oranges, intertwined with lush violets, rolling out waves across the near night sky.

Before he closed his eyes and smiled.

He was content.

Happy.

A crash forced his eyes open.

The picturesque world faded from his view.

The once euphoric joy he had looking up at the heavens, was replaced by an anchor dropping in his stomach.

A slimy, grey ceiling capped his location, a couple of leaks here and there falling. The freedom they posses, and the rhythmic splatter entranced Percy. He felt himself lean ever so slightly closer and closer.

The further he got, the less he could breath. He couldn't stop. The droplets called to him. Told him everything would be safe. All he had to do was reach them.

He was right there. The droplets were so close. The feeling of suffocation intensified. It became painful.

Reaching out his tongue, he made it. A droplet landed on it. A satisfied wave rolled over him. His eyes forced shut in pleasure. His neck no longer hurt. He was in heaven. It was orgasmic.

And then it was gone.

And he heard laughter.

Not bad, or mean laughter. Mirthful ones, full of warmth.

Slowly opening his now heavy eye lids, his eyes drank in the sight. Lavish green hills rolling for miles treated his eyes.

His mesmerising sky was back.

An unsettling shiver ran down his spine. He felt cold. Colder than he'd ever been. He was going numb. He felt lonely. As though everything he has ever loved has been taken from him. It was such an empty feeling.

"Wha-di-yo-you must have seen that?" A fearful child spoke, his words both sentimenting his chattering teeth and his worried mind.

"What? You're best imitation of a dog?" A bespectacled boy replied, setting of his ginger haired friend into another round of raucous giggles.

"I-er-n-erm yeah. Sp-spot on, wasn't it?" Percy still wasn't 100%. He was rattled. Scared. He had never felt so alone, and didn't have a clue what he'd seen.

Harry chuckled softly to himself, a hint of a tear dripping from the corner of his eye.

Percy found himself focused on it. It was as though he could taste the salt from it. He edged closer.

Before getting far, Ron pulled himself together. "Mate, if that wasn't the worst dog I've ever seen, then my names not Ron."

Opening his mouth to speak, he was cut off by the loud chuckles of two people behind the trio.

They all turned around, and caught what the pair was saying. "Silly us, here we were thinking his name was ..."

"... Ronniekins. Mind you mum does like to call him ..."

"... Ronald an awful lot. Only when he's been a naughty poo though, so ..."

"... All the time."

The twins laughed again, before noticing they had an audience.

"Spying on us? Are we?" One mischievous twin smiled.

"Oh bore off." Said a particularly ruffled Ron. "You spied on us first."

"Is lickle Ronnie upset?" Said one of the brothers.

"I think he is George." Said Fred, apparently.

"Hard not to overhear you when you shout down the entire platform." Chuckled George, before Fred spoke up,

"You might want to learn from that."

"Be a bit sneaker, you know?"

"Oh whatever, George." Ron said before silently pleading with Percy and Harry to join him in following Hagrid.

Once they'd left, and the laughter from the twins had faded away, they regrouped with the other first years. It wasn't particularly hard, as they were only just behind them, but all three felt a bit more comfortable surrounded by kids in the same situation as they were.

After following the giant of a man down a very narrow, and spindly, and steep path, and hearing sniffs come from Neville, who must not have found his toad, they heard Hagrid speak up,

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," He called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

Unfortunate enough to be situated at the back, the trio found themselves labouring to find out the cause of the loud, "Ooooooooh", they heard from the front.

Round the said bend, they couldn't help but do the same. Ron and Harry were suitably impressed, but Percy was practically transfixed.

The narrow path suddenly opened up onto the edge of a vast black lake, sprawling for as far as the eye can see. At one edge of this magnificent lake, was an overwhelming mountain, with an architectural masterpiece perched atop. Grand towers with windows reflecting the gorgeous night sky. Turrets every way you looked, looming down on everything and everyone.

Percy couldn't take his eyes off the glistening reflection of the water. It called to him. Every slight wave, every minute ripple. It spoke to him. It wanted him.

He just knew it.

The sound of crashing waves rose in his ears. Louder and louder, more forcefully the closer he got. It was deafening, but he found it pleasant.

He didn't want to stop himself. He wanted to reach out and just hold the water. It wanted to be cherished, loved. He was prepared to do that.

His footsteps lighty crunching on the rocky beach beneath him, slowly swaying side to side in time with the movements of the water.

"Hey Percy, you wanna share?"

A voice called him back.

He suddenly felt weak. He was no longer in sync with the lake.

Turning around, he noticed Harry looking at him expectedly, before gesturing to a boat now behind Percy. Once again turning, his eyes caught Ron, sitting on a gently rocking boat, before once again looking out at the water. Longingly.

Percy turned back to Harry, and said, "Sure, would love to." Flashing Harry a smile, he clambered into the small raft, next to Ron.

Harry soon joined, and they waited for everyone else to load into their boats, Hagrid taking one for himself.

They soon saw a boy come up to them. He wore clothes made from what looked to be a very nice material, with the way it shimmered in the moonlight. He had platinum hair, a sharp face, and an odd glint in his eyes.

Harry and Ron stiffened immediately upon sight of him. A scowl surfacing on Ron's face.

"Is this seat free?" A bored voice drawled out of the new boys lips.

Not waiting for reply, he boarded the boat and got himself comfy.

Percy was taken aback, _was he raised by_ _wolves_ _? Where are_ _his manners_ _? Guess things_ _don't_ _work the same in the_ _magic_ _world_.

Giving him a chance, he asked for his name.

"Draco Malfoy." He once again drawled out.

If anything, Ron's scowl became deeper.

"I'm Percy Jackson, nice to meet you." Came his differing American accent, whilst out stretching his hand.

Draco sniffed. He looked revolted, but nonetheless took the extended hand and shook it.

The boat kicked to life. Gently sailing over the lake.

No turning back now.

Peering over at Harry, the new boy smirked, "Associating with this filth, Potter?" Potter was now a slur.

"You associated yourself with me Malfoy, not the other way round." Came the shrewd reply from Harry, not wanting anything to do with Draco.

Draco sneered, and turned his back on the boy hero, and faced Percy, "So what are you?"

"Come again?"

With no patience, Draco said "So clearly not a pureblood, but I could have guessed that from present company," he glanced at Ron, "so are you half blood or one of those mudbloods?"

Percy still didn't have the foggiest what the small blonde child was chatting about. But luckily Ron did.

"You better shut up Malfoy." Ron said, trying to stand in the boat to impose his figure over Draco.

Draco grinned, but quitened down, beginning to regret his decision to leave his two henchman.

"He means what kind of wizard are you. Pureblood is like two parents are wizards, halfblood is one, and muggleborn is no parents are wizards."

"Wait, so what's a mudblood then? Is that another kind?" Percy asked, cluelessly.

"Its another word for muggleborn, a really bad word. It's used to insult people who don't have magical parents. It's the lowest of the low. So no wonder a Malfoy used it."

Said Malfoy scoffed, and began to retort, "At least I can understand the words I use Weasley, as from what I understand, none of your children will be anything more than a halfblood. Magical should be the last thing to come out of your mouth. Stop running your tongue, lest you want to lose it."

Before either Percy or Harry could get what they wanted to say in, Ron stood up suddenly, in a wrathful rage, stumbling trying to gain a proper foothold.

The boat teetered dangerously.

Percy quickly stood up too, gaining his balance very quickly. He placed a hand on Ron's shoulder and said, "Come on mate, leave it. Don't let him get what he wants. You shouldn't give a racist like him the time of day." Percy wanted to say more, and do more, and was begging for Draco to just give him an excuse.

Ron shot a glare Draco's way, and noticed the amusement hidden behind his smile. The smarmy git was loving this. He saw red, and lunged.

Percy held him back. Barely.

"C'mon Ron, Percy's right, he's not worth it." Harry had finally found what to say. He had so many emotions about Draco and none of them nice. He wanted to give him the benefit of doubt, afterall Ron did insult his family first. But the arrogance that radiated off of him, and how easily he manipulated Ron both to his own advantage and amusement, was disgusting.

The situation calmed after that, and all 4 boys sat quietly for the remaining 5 minutes of the ride. The three friends all at least slightly pissed, whilst the recipient of their hate smirked to himself, happy at how easily he got in the gingers head.

The oncoming castle loomed further and further over them. The boats were heading towards a curtain of ivy that obscured a hidden entrance in the cliff face.

Gliding through the dark tunnel, Percy felt the call again. The way the gentle lapping of water echoed around the tunnel was alluring. If he could just reach his hand down, he'd be able to caress it like it wants.

His fingertip was just about to skim the top, before their boats led them into an underground harbour, and his normality regained control of his mind.

Pulling his arm back towards him, he looked at his hand confused. He didn't stop looking until their boat quietly thudded against the stone dock.

Following his friends onto the earth, he saw Draco standing, looking at him, this time with two rather large kids on either side of him. His smirk once again plastered on his face.

As he got nearer, he heard Draco ask him, "So which is it? You were cut off by that uncouth buffoon earlier."

Draco didn't seem at all interested.

"Not halfblood. Do not say halfblood." The same far away voice whispered to him, this time he could tell how deep it was. Glancing around, he only saw Ron and Harry standing by his side, and neither of them had a deep enough voice to sound like that.

"Erm, muggleborn, I'm a muggleborn, so, you know, thanks for before, great to hear how much I'm appreciated by you." Said Percy, rather sarcastically. He didn't know why this voice told him not to say halfblood, he'd already been told he was a muggleborn.

Draco's two henchman didn't clock the sarcasm and stared at their 'leader' in confusion.

"Didn't I tell you Crabbe? Nothing but a filthy mudblood. I knew it." Draco laughed, along with the newly named Crabbe, before the last one laughed along with them.

Percy didn't like racists. He never had, and never would. His mom had taught him better than that.

He had also never had someone be racist towards him. And he didn't like it one bit. It hadn't clicked back on the boat that Draco was actually being racist against him.

Just looking at the figures in front of him made him angry. Knowing that these boys hated him for being something he has no control over saddened him. It hurt him. It angered him.

He headed straight for Draco and his goons. He'd told Ron to let it go, so he didn't get in trouble. He'd hate to see his friend expelled because of someone like Draco. He had no quarrels with getting himself expelled if it meant teaching Draco something that should be reserved for the classroom.

"Excuse me?" Allowing Draco an out.

"Didn't you hear me? How the standards of Hogwarts have fallen if they're allowing your kind in." No mask was put up on his face this time. Pure malice evident throughout his features.

"I'm surprised you've not spit on me yet." Percy matching Draco's anger.

"There's time for that, so don't test me. But as of right now, while that oafs beard is brown, Dumbledore will listen to him, so I'm not going to test my luck." Draco gestured towards Hagrid, where he was currently waiting for the last few students to leave their boats.

"That's strange, a mudblood not being afraid when a pureblood is." Came Percy's mocking laughter.

"What's that suppose-ahh you bastard!" Draco started, before being cut off from the swift push by Percy.

"Test me and let's find out."

Draco tripped backwards, barreling into his two goons. They helped him steady himself, before he snapped out of their helping grip, and charged forward towards Percy, hand in his robes.

Percy's hand hovered above his left thigh, prepared to bend down and retrieve his wand at a moment's notice.

Luckily, Hagrid wasn't as incompetent as Draco would like some to believe, and clocked on to the commotion straight away.

Quickly breaking it up, he sent Draco on his way, before circling back to Percy, "Best not be messin' with that one lad, Malfoy's neve' know when t' stop."

And with that, he headed back to the front of the group, as everyone had finally gotten off the boat.

Harry and Ron soon joined back up with him, and Ron clapped him on the back.

"I wish you'd let me do that in the boat mate, his face was hilarious." Chuckled the freckled boy.

Harry smiled a little, he too had been irritated by Draco, and couldn't imagine what Percy must be feeling like considering he grew up in the muggle world and knew all about racism first hand.

Ron also knew about racism, just to a lesser extent, as he'd never really been witness to it as his family mingled with families of similar, none racist, beliefs.

Doing one last cursory check of the boats, Hagrid shouted to Neville, "Oy, you there! Is this yer toad?"

Fearing it might be his, Percy quickly checked his robe pockets, thankful to feel his toads skin, and to hear another boy shout, "Trevor!", blissfully.

Following Hagrid's lamp, all the first years clambered through a passageway carved into the rock, which lead to a smooth plain, of damp grass in the castles shadow.

In front of them were some stone steps, leading up to a huge oak front door.

"Everyone still got yer things? You there, still got yer toad?"

And with that, they all ascended the stairs, before Hagrid raised one of his gigantic fists and knocked three times.

 **An - Once again, sorry for the delay. Managed to find some free time, so I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Leave a vote and a comment, always makes my day if you do.**


	9. Delightful Feasts, and Sorting Hats

Percy was in awe, once again, by the magical wizarding world.

This castle was magnificent. It was huge, and welcoming. It felt warm. Safe. Like a camp fire deep in the woods battling away any dangers. He was hopeful. This warmth gave him hope. For his future, and that maybe he picked the right place.

He was glad to have gotten away.

He wasn't afraid to admit he was still scared of Gabe. The very thought of him was enough to close his chest up. To labour his breathing.

But seeing this place, this beautiful place, was enough to wash his worries away.

Glancing around the grand chamber that could easily fit 4 of his old apartments in it, he took in the delicately crafted archways. The effort in making them looked tremendous, and tiring, and he couldn't be more grateful as he was able to eat the fruits of their labour, and boy did they taste good.

His eyes caught sight of the hanging torches that ran along the length of the corridor. Illuminating the hallway in a swathe of a calming orange.

He always felt conflicted looking at fire. There was something deep inside that told him it was wrong, that it shouldn't be there, and that it deserves be put out. It felt dangerous, and foreign, like it was his enemy.

But he also saw what fire brought. The light that couldn't ever be put out. A beacon in the darkness you can rely on. He felt safe, when he looked at them.

He tried to catch a glimpse of the ceiling that hung above them, but it was far too tall to make out in only the torchlight.

In front of them was a a woman, who beckoned them forward.

Following behind the rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses, he spotted a regal marble staircase leading to upper floors.

Following her past the stairway, he noticed that she, like everyone else in this world, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. She also had black hair, which she had drawn into a tight bun.

Towering above the first years, the tall witch lead the group of new students across the flagged stone floor.

Percy heard the sounds of voices increasing, the further down the hall they went. They passed a very large doorway on their right, where the voices reached their peak, so he guessed the rest of the school must be inside already.

Instead of joining them through the door, the witch leading them, who Percy only just remembered Hagrid introduced as Professor McGonagall, ushered them all into a small, empty chamber just off of the hall.

Filing through one by one, they were all soon crowded in, standing alarmingly closer to one another than normally done, glancing nervously around to each other.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which appeared to be fastened under his left ear, and then on a smudge on Ron's nose. He felt Harry nervously try to flatten his hair beside him on his right, while he himself did his best to straighten his already pretty straight robes.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly. "

She left the chamber, and he heard an audible swallow from his right.

Harry spoke up, asking Ron about the sorting system. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?"

He was also interested in this, not being from a wizarding background, and admittedly not paying any attention when Dumbleodre explained things to him and his mom.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." Answered the tall, ginger haired boy, not doing anything to help settle the anxious nerves everyone in the crowd was feeling.

Taking a quick glance around, he noticed a lot of people also looking around anxiously, some even looking quite terrified.

Sure he'd learnt a couple of spells, but he'd never really practiced them, and couldn't even do them half the time unless he had a minute to calm down. It didn't help to hear the girl from the train, whisper on to anyone who'd listen about all the spells she'd managed to learn, and which she'd need.

What if that's what Hogwarts expected of all its students? Afterall, he himself had even practiced some, and he's a notoriously bad student. He could only imagine what the other first years had already done.

Of course, he should be resting easy, it didn't seem like Harry or Ron had even opened their books, so he may well just be overreacting.

Just as he was about to have fully calmed himself down, the were several screams coming from the people behind him.

The loud noise got his heart rate going, this time it was adrenaline propelling it, not anxiety. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and his senses started whirring on overdrive.

It wasn't the loud, sudden noise that got his back up, no, he'd heard louder, and more sudden noises before. It was the cold. The room got so much cooler, and ice felt it's way creeping up his back, stabbing at his neck.

Spinning around, his hand slipping into his right pocket, he caught sight of the commotion.

Hearing Harry, and the other people around, gasp beside him, and the bespectacled boy exclaim, "What the - ?" he couldn't help but focus.

Things seemed slower than they normally do, and his eyes were picking up the smallest of details, to the goosebumps on Harry's exposed wrist, to the bead of sweat trickling down Neville's neck, glistening in the dimly lit room.

Snapping his eyes off of the clumsy boys neck, he mentally snapped his focus back to the task at hand.

His eyes focused on the cause. About two dozen pearly white, transparent figures had just streamed through the door they entered from. The closed door. Each of these ghostly figures were gliding across the floor, bickering amongst themselves and hardly glancing at the assembled group of scared first years.

Percy could hear the conversation, but he wasn't listening to it. These clearly weren't a threat, as they were just going on their way and talking like any other people, or ghosts should he say.

He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, as he slowly calmed his breathing down, letting his grip on his pen loosen. Pulling his hand out of his pocket, he could still see it was white, with his blood slowly colouring it back to normal.

He didn't dwell on his hands being clammy after his intense pen holding, and was more focused on why the hell he chose his pen, when his magic death stick was in his other pocket.

He could still feel the blood being pumped around his body much quicker than normal, but his calming breaths had helped. Taking another deep breath, he looked towards Harry who still had a paler face than usual.

A sharp voice helped bring back some sense of normality to his world, as he heard Professor McGonagall say, "Move along now, ths Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

The witch confirmed his suspicions that the ghosts weren't threats, as she looked far more exasperated than defensive.

For as long as he could remember, he had always ran towards danger, never away. Well, the times where it didn't just find him. He ran his mom ragged with this, probably forcing her to age a few years more than she actually is. He couldn't help it, he just had an insatiable urge to help people. To protect them. Now was no different, he hoped at the first chance to fend off the threat.

Forming a line, as ordered by the deputy head, he stood behind Harry, but in front if Ron, before walking out of the cramped chamber back across the hall, before heading towards two very large double doors leading into the Great Hall.

If Percy was overawed by the entrance hall, this was something else. The entire place was stunning and magical, and for the first time in his journey, he felt like he had truly transitioned into the world of magic. Before, he always felt like he still had one foot out of the door, as though at any minute, his entire perception of the world would be stripped before his eyes, and he'd be waking up back in New York. Back with Gabe.

But now, he no longer had those doubts. With every candle of the thousands there were, he felt his worries just ebb away. There was no longer inner turmoil inside of him.

Floating high above the floor, the candles, each and every one of them, looking like stars against the dark backdrop of the high ceiling, twinkling over everyone.

Underneath these, were four very long tables, crafted out of a very dark wood, that were nearly filled with a couple thousand students, all wearing the same black robes currently adorning his own body. Upon these tables, were ornate golden plates, with matching goblets, intricately designed with patterns too far away for him to see.

As Professor McGonagall lead them forward, he looked ahead and saw another dark table, where a collective group of adults were sitting, who were presumably the teachers.

The first years were lead to a slightly raised platform in between the students and teachers, a platform that allowed the smaller students in the crowd a chance to see.

Taking his eyes of the pale faces in the crowd, he cast them upwards once more, a growing suspicion that the ceiling wasn't actually a ceiling, and was in fact the sky, although it wasn't anywhere near as cold as he'd expect it to be with an open roof.

He heard a quite _thud_ as Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in the centre. With a much quieter noise, only heard due to the silence of the room when the first years walked in, was the almost imperceptible _slump_ of a hat falling down on itself on top of the stool. The hat itself was far too patched and frayed to be anything other than hundreds of years old, and it looked like it hadn't seen a wash in the amount of time too.

Percy didn't know what to make of the hat. _Was it like a_ _magicians_ _hat? Was there a_ _rabbit_ _in it? Or did you_ _have_ _to put it on, and it would cover your entire body and put a house crest on your robes?_ More and more outlandish thoughts rippled through his mind, each seeming less likely than the one before it.

By now, Percy had noticed the entirety of the hall staring at this hat, waiting for something. He followed their line of sight just in time, and saw a rip open near the brim, like a mouth.

Then it sung,

" _Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But_ _don't_ _judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_  
 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,_

 _Your top hats sleek and tall,_

 _For_ _I'm_ the _Hogwarts Sorting Hat_  
 _And I can_ _cap_ _them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_  
 _The Sorting Hat_ _can't_ _see,_

 _So try me on and I will tell you_  
 _Where_ _you_ _ought to be._

 _You might_ _belong_ _in Gryffindor,_  
 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_  
 _Their daring, never, and chivalry_  
 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might_ _belong_ _in Hufflepuff,_  
 _Where they are just and_ _loyal_ _,_  
 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_  
 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if_ _you've_ _a ready mind,_  
 _Where those of wit and learning,_  
 _Will always find_ _their_ _kind;_

 _Or_ _perhaps_ _in Slytherin_  
 _You'll make your real friends,_  
 _Those cunning folk use any means_  
 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be_ _afraid_ _!_

 _And_ _don't_ _get in a flap!_

 _You're_ _in_ _safe_ _hands (though I_ _have_ _none)_  
 _For_ _I'm_ _a Thinking Cap!"_

A thunderous applause echoed through the room as the admittedly talented hat finished its song. He noticed it appear to bow to each of the four tables, by practically bending in half. It was quite an odd sight.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to us. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Percy smiled at that, relieved himself. His mind had quite the overactive imagination, and he felt the doubts creep up once more, so to find out he would just have to accessorise was a huge relief.

Knowing that Harry was nervously anticipating what they'd have to do, he looked over to make sure he was a bit happier. Noticing the grimace like smile on his new friends face, he asked him, "Eveything okay, Harry?"

Harry's face was still pale as he looked towards Percy. He looked at the inquiring sea green eyes, and found himself growing calmer, feeling like he was gently rocking on a wave, he felt his barriers lower as though he could tell Percy anything, as though he had to tell Percy everything.

"I, Er- I suppose so, mate." Harry started, staring intently at Percy's eyes, almost transfixed. "It's just, what if I'm none of them, you know? What if I'm not brave, or quick-witted, or any of them, where do I end up? I've never found a place I've belonged, and when I finally start to feel like the wizarding world could be it, I find out there's a chance that I still won't find anywhere." Harry couldn't stop himself. He never would have dreamed he'd share his deepest insecurities with someone he just met. While he felt Percy could be a good friend, it wasn't like he trusted him yet, they had only just met afterall, so why did he share all of that?

Percy didn't know how to handle this information. He'd expected a simple answer of yes, or no, not an insight into Harry's deepest fears. He didn't know why Harry decided to share so much with him, they barely knew each other. But he was glad that he did, as it meant his new friend trusted and liked him enough to share his worries.

He looked at Ron to see if he had anything to say, but found him waving to his brothers in the crowd.

"Hey, Ron?" He asked the boy.

Turning away from his brothers, Ron glanced over to the two of them, "Yeah?"

"What do you think about it? Do you think there'll be a house for Harry? Where do you reckon he fits best?" Asked Percy, on behalf of Harry to catch Ron up on the situation.

Ron caught Percy's eyes, and found that he couldn't look away. He saw gentle ripples go across the surface of Percy's eyes, like watching the surface of a lake on a warm summers day. He could vaguely hear the faint _plop_ of a fishing line sinking into the surface, lightly disturbing the water.

"Erm, I - I think he'll end up in Gryffindor. It's where all the brave wizards and witches go. Defeating You-Know-Who is an almost guarantee you'll end up there. I wish I was going to Gryffindor, where all my family have gone. I want to live up to what they have achieved, and become a great wizard. But I'm most likely going to end up in Hufflepuff or something, if they don't kick me out for being a squib first." Ron finished, before blinking his eyes and shaking his head.

"Wow. Did I just say all of that ought loud?" His freckles almost hidden by the reddening of his cheeks.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm sure you're not whatever a squib is, and you'll end up where you want to." Harry assured Ron, thinking it best to help his nerves, considering he clearly just let slip his inner beliefs which meant he truly though Harry would make it to a house.

Neither of the three boys knew what just happened, and why two of them decided to confess their worries, but they didn't have time to dwell on it much, for the sorting was apparently underway.

They each heard a loud shout of, "HUFFLEPUFF!" come from the hat, and a pink face girl with blonde pigtails lift the hat that was halfway down her face, and stumbled off the podium towards the table on the right, where a round of cheers and claps sounded. The girls confidence grew with every step and she finished her walk in stride.

"Bones, Susan!" was called up next, the name of the first girl lost to Percy.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to the first girl.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several of the Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Percy could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin.

Percy could sense Harry beside him growing more nervous, so he placed a hand on his shoulder. Harry turned to face him, and looked into his eyes, before he whispered, "Erm-I-I just feel a little sick. Don't worry."

So Percy let it go.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" was called up next, and was placed into,

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Percy noticed, that the hat was quick to shout out the house, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to the trio of three new friends in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.

It wasn't long before he was up.

"Jackson, Perseus!"

This was it. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, out of the line. He felt a hand clap him on the back, and Ron whisper to him, save me a seat in Gryffindor, will ya?"

He turned to face his friend, and gave him a weak smile, before looking over at Harry, who gave him two discrete thumbs up.

Nodding to the both of them he let out the breath he was holding, and turned around. Sterling himself once more, he walked forward to where his future was sitting on an old stool. He was faintly aware of Professor McGonagall in front of him giving him a thin smile as he approached.

Eyes locked onto the hat that was now in the Professors hands, he slowly turned around and face the large audience, before cautiously sitting down on the rickety stool.

He felt something land on his head, before sliding down his face, the world now blocked from view.

"Ahh, interesting." Spoke a small voice in his ear. "But also most difficult. I see lots of loyalty, not afraid to harm others for your friends. Hmmm, and bravery too. Always standing up for the little guy, even putting yourself at risk. Curious, most curious indeed. Lots of talent here too, and great ambitions, Merlin is always a good target... but where to put you?"

 _Gryffindor_ _doesn't seem too bad_ , he thought to himself. He felt his life was defined by his need to protect everyone, not just his friends, and it helps that Ron wants him to go there to be with him.

The small voice spoke up, "Gryffindor, eh? Could be a good fit. For you don't seem like a Slytherin, you have the ambition, but how far would you go to achieve that if it meant hurting your friends? Not very far." Percy had to agree with that.

"Hufflepuff, could be a good fit," carried on the small voice, "There's not a lot you wouldn't do for your friends. Yet ou've never been the most patient or hardworking. But you are both daring and brave, with an unshakable nerve... so it better be GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat shouted the last word, and he heard a roar from the table in the far left, and lifted the hat from his head, the manic cheering slowly coming into view.

Standing up shakily, he placed the hat back on the stool, and made his way down to his new table. He spotted Ron clapping just as loudly from the group of first years, while Harry offered up a large smile. He hoped the sorting hat would send them the same way he was going, so he wouldn't be alone.

He sat down next to Hermione, who turned to smile at him, mirth radiating off of her, before she offered her hand. Accepting it, he couldn't help but smile back at her, looking into her brown eyes, he didn't know what Ron was upset about, sure she spoke a lot, but she was nice.

He had just turned back to the sorting, when he heard her speak up, "Er-I-I just want a friend. You know? To fit in with someone."

That got him to stop turning. He looked back at Hermione, and could see her eyes watering, looking like glass. Like they could shatter at any moment.

He didn't know why everyone suddenly just started telling him their worries, but he had a feeling he was a lot more involved than he first thought.

He gently smiled at her, and said, "I'll be your friend, if you want?"

Wiping a tear away with the back of her hand, she let out a little laugh, and nodded. "Hah, sure. I'd like that." She sniffled a little, but looked much better than 10 seconds ago. He smiled at her one last time, before looking back at the sorting.

He tuned back in, just in time to see Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, get called. He winced a little as he saw him fall over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and appeared to get his wish at once if his smug smile was anything to go off: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

There weren't many people left now before his friend, Harry. "Moon". . . , "Nott". . . , "Parkinson". . . , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil". . . , then "Perks, Sally-Anne". . . , and then, at last -

"Potter, Harry!"

Loud whispers broke out across the room as he saw his friend step out.

"Potter, did she say?" Came from the Hufflepuff table, and "The Harry Potter?" Was from the Gryffindors.

Looking up at his friend, Percy watched Harry's nervous eyes scan the entire room, before the hat dropped past them, obscuring his view.

It wasn't long before Percy saw Harry's cheek rise a little, and his head turn slightly, as though he flinched slightly.

He laughed to himself, _guess he got a tad spooked by the voice_. Not that Percy could blame him, he'd seen everyone do the same, and was sure he'd probably done it too.

It wasn't too long before Harry's sorting was complete, noted Percy, probably on the longer side of them, but it was similar to his own in length, before he heard the hat shout, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Percy wasn't as worried as he was immediately after his sorting about Harry or Ron not coming to Gryffindor with him, because he felt Hermione would make a great friend and he'd enjoy her company in Gryffindor, but he was still more than happy to hear that at least one of his friends would be joining him.

It didn't take long for Harry to make his way over to his new house table, being greeted with many claps on the back by jubilant housemates. He sat down opposite the two new friends, Percy and Hermione, being introduced to the latter straight away by the former. Something Hermione really appreciated if her beaming smile at Percy was anything to go off.

The three of them chatted between themselves. Well, it was more like two, as Harry noticed Percy and Hermione mainly talking between themselves and having a good time so he didn't want to intrude. He decided to keep an eye out for Ron instead.

There weren't many people left before Ron, and in no time Professor McGonagall called up the now pale green boy.

Harry got Percy's attention, and the two of them watched as their friend shakily sat down, and the hat get placed on his head.

Not a second later did the hat shout, "GRYFFINDOR!" And a now much more healthy looking 11 year old collapsed into the chair beside Percy, the one he had been saving, and gained immediate congratulations from his siblings and new friends.

After being properly introduced, Ron still wasn't taken with Hermione, he didn't like how she showed him up before on the train, and thought she was better than everyone else, but he remained polite as he didn't want to upset Percy.

Professor McGonagall called the last remaining first year up, a boy by the name of "Zabini, Blaise." It wasn't long before he was made a Slytherin.

After he sat down, and the clapping quieted, the room soon came alive with the buzz of thousands of students all intermingling and pondering about the coming year.

That is until Dumbledore stood up. He was positively beaming at his students, old and new alike, stretching his arms wide open, as though there was nothing that could please him more than seeing everyone here.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Percy just stared up at the man, not knowing what to make of him, or the extra evidence that Dumbledore was a very strange person.

"Is he - a bit mad?" he heard Harry ask Ron's brother Percy, uncertainly.

"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"

He watched Harry's mouth flop open, and his eyes stare angrily at the feast that just appeared before everyone, filling the beautiful dishes.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He asked Harry, tapping him on the shoulder as he did so.

Harry's mouth slowly closed as he looked over and caught Percy's eyes.

"Wel-er-I've just never seen so much food that I like, and am able to have. The Dursleys, the people I live with, they never really starved me, but I would only ever be given scraps. It's just a little overwhelming to take in all at once, is all." Harry overshared, once again.

Percy nodded as Harry spoke, it made sense afterall, he'd never really had a proper meal, and now there was an endless supply. He was also concerned about why everyone suddenly decided to share things with him that they probably shouldn't be sharing so casually, and there was now no doubt that he was the cause of it.

The rest of the feast was spent with the four of them growing to be better friends, well more like the three and the two of them. Harry still felt uncomfortable butting in on Percy and Hermione's budding relationship, and Ron was taught that if he didn't have anything nice to say, then he shouldn't say anything at all, so he kept his mouth shut. Percy was comfortable chatting with both his somewhat older friends, and his newer friend.

About halfway through the feast, Hermione got onto the topic of spells. Asking him which he'd learnt and done, she rattled off the ones she had done.

There was some overlap between the two of them, with Hermione knowing a lot more spells, but only being able to do about the same as Percy.

"I've tried alohamora a couple of times, but it never worked. Luckily mum wouldn't let my dad throw out the key, because he wanted to help me learn in a situation where I had to succeed. What about you?" Asked Hermione, curiously.

"I've tried it a couple of times, and I've managed to get it working. In fact I used it on the train ride to unlock my trunk." He answered, a little embarrassed that he could do something the brain box in front of him couldn't.

Hermione looked at him, mouth a little agape, "Wow, you've got to teach me what you know. I can do the same for you." Her brown eyes looked at him, almost forcing him to say yes.

Smiling at her, he said, "Sure, that sounds great."

"Ah, excellent."

"Have you done the fumos spell yet? It was the first spell I did, and it's a lot of fun." He asked, matching the bushy haired girls quick paced speaking.

She shook her head, bushy hair falling into her eyes. "Not yet. I've looked it over, but I've never been able to do it."

"I can show you if you want? It was the first spell I showed those two." He gestured to Ron and Harry. "I tried teaching it to Ron, but he wasn't concentrating enough. Harry managed it though. I can try and teach it you."

"I don't know Percy, isn't fumos the smokescreen spell?" She bit her lip, a little anxiously.

"Oh yeah, I suppose it is. But don't worry, the landlord at The Leaky Cauldron taught me another spell, finite, and I've used it a few times. It cancels out spells, you see." Percy tried easing her nerves.

It seemed to do the trick, as she nodded her head, eyes bright in anticipation.

Clearing his throat, he fished inside his left pocket, and brought his magnificently crafted wand out.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on the spell. Closing his eyes, he raised his wand and swung his arm with the practiced movements, and said, "Fumos."

He opened his eyes in time to see the astonished and awed look on Hermiones face disappear behind the the inky black whisps racing from his wand.

Pooling together just above everyone's head, the smoke cloud was rapidly growing bigger and bigger, and gaining a lot of attention.

The chatter of the room was quickly silenced, eyes transfixed on the spell. Hushed whispers ran through the room, most centering around, "What is that?"

Stopping the spell once he thought it to be big enough, he looked over at Hermione, his eyes alight with mirth, a smile spreading across his face.

Hermione was awestruck. She'd never been able to do the spell, but she just knew the speed and potency of Percy's incarnation was something to marvel. That's when she noticed the silence of the room.

Casting her eyes around, she noticed most people staring up at the inky smoke ball above them, except for the few who recognised the spell and figured a first year was trying out some magic, or Fred and George were messing around.

She looked back at Percy, smiling as she did so due to his infectious grin. "You might want to cast that counterspell now. People are looking. That was really good though."

Percy was quite chuffed with himself. He'd managed to impress someone who had already managed to complete lots of spells already. But he did see what she meant, lots of people were looking, he even saw a few inching towards their pockets, probably thinking about dispelling his spell.

Taking another calming breath, he raised his wand once more, before reciting, "Finite." and the smoke was gone, sucked straight into his wand in the blink of an eye.

He was grateful that nobody seemed to realise it was him who cast the spell, it would save him a lot of awkwardness later on. He guessed his fumos spell must have happened in the blink of an eye, much like his finite spell, for no one to notice it.

Well no one, except the headmaster, who was currently looking down at the young wizard, chatting obliviously and aimlessly to his new friends.

Professor Dumbledore smiled to himself, before speaking quietly, "He sure is going to be something special."

 **A/n, not so long of a wait this time, as I managed to catch a break with college, and found myself on holiday, lucky me.**

 **Hope you appreciate the quicker posting, let's hope I can continue.**

 **And as always, remember to fav/follow and review, I appreciate each and every one of them. They let me know that at least someone enjoys what I write, and that makes me happy.**


	10. Pleasant Sleeps and Settling In

A good night's rest was a luxury that had been missing from Percy's life for far too long. For as long he could remember, sleep was never something Percy took solace in, it was never an escape from the world around him. He always had bad dreams plague him, and often woke up coated in sweat, with bags under his eyes.

Gabe no doubt had a part in this. Whether from the fact he terrorised Percy for years or because he refused to allow Sally to replace the uncomfortable broken mattress Percy slept on, is not clear (yet probably a bit of both), but he certainly affected his stepsons sleeping.

When they moved to England, Percy still never found himself having a restful night, only this time for different reasons. Since the first night after his birthday, strange dreams entered his conscience, never giving his mind a moments rest. They weren't exactly bad dreams, it's that they just felt real, like he was actually living them, and when he woke up, it was like he hadn't slept at all, he was always that tired. Of course jet lag would be a factor in this, not being able to sleep until well into the early morning, due to the time difference, and being woken up at the same time he would have been back in America, meant he only would have gotten a few hours at most.

The moment he stepped foot into the wizarding world, however, he noticed a distinct change. First his dreams stopped, and when he woke up, it actually felt like he'd slept some. He still wasn't used to the time zone, but it had gotten better, and he found himself with more energy throughout the day. It had been a pleasant feeling for Percy, almost like his body was telling him that he was now amongst people he belonged with, and could finally settle.

Yet his first night at Hogwarts was actually another step up, he pondered. After following Percy Weasley to the common room, and entering through an almost-sentient portrait, he had felt an aura of calm descend over him. Glancing around the room, he took note of the squashy armchairs that filled the room, looking beautifully comfy, compelling Percy to just relax into one, and let his mind shut down for a bit.

He'd let out a deep sigh and shifted his attention back to his prefect, and payed a modicum of attention as he directed the girls through one doorway that apparently led to their dorms, and the boys through another.

Trudging with the rest of the male first years, he glanced around for Hermione before he saw her already going through her door. _Ah nevermind, I'll catch her tomorrow,_ he thought to himself, _see how she's fitting in._

Tagging on with the group that had just gotten away from him, he caught up with Ron and Harry and followed them up to the top of a spiral staircase, no doubt inside of one of the towers this castle had.

When Percy entered his new home, he noted six very fancy beds, the like he'd only ever seen associated with royalty, and for as egotistical as many of his teachers thought he was, as well as the air of mystery around his father and the birthday letter, he didn't think his dad was a ruler of any kingdom.

Four large pillows were placed at the top of the bed, with expensive silk woven casings covering the thick and plush looking stuffing. Similar expensive sheets were covering a thick and warm looking duvet. With every flicker of the torchlight, it looked as though waves of lava were rippling over the sheets.

That's when he noticed the trunks beside the beds, and figured all their stuff must have already been brought up. He looked around for his things, before spying them next to the third bed along on the left. Heading forwards, he took a glance around the room.

The dorm room was a marvel in and of itself. The stone brick wall was covered in sweeping maroon cloth dripping down the wall, almost shimmering in the amber candlelight, illuminating the room in an ethereal glow of red and orange. Ashen grey stone peeked out from behind them.

Pale moonlight filtered through the room, catching a speckle of dust floating here and there, from the towering and grand arched bay windows, overlooking Hogwarts moon bathed grounds. Large windowsills lay just before the glass, a perch within the towers walls, overhanging the grounds far below.

Laying on the circular patterned stone floor, was an ornate rug. Percy felt scared to step onto it, for its craftsmanship was nothing short of a delicate masterpiece. Each dark maroon fibre was hand woven together, using immaculate material that looked soft to the touch. Intricate rich golden designs were inlayed in the rug, creating an almost glowing effect with the torchlight.

The ceiling above was far out of reach, with deep brown wooden beams curving along the coned roof, with another one appearing every other metre, joing together at the very top. Just below these, were four other beams going straight across into the room remaining level, connected through a circular beam in the dead centre, sitting just above the beds.

Percy had never seen a room that looked as comfy, or as expensive as this. He was almost afraid to touch what would be his new bed for the coming months, thinking one tiny touch, no matter how soft, could crumble the material, it looked to be that delicate.

On some level Gabe had gotten to him. He was always denied a new bed, even though his old mattresses springs would often poke and prod his back, because Gabe thought he didn't deserve one. And Percy had started thinking that was maybe true, but looking at how inviting the bed was, and how soft and and comfy it seemed, he couldn't help but think Gabe might have been wrong.

Feeling a yawn coming on, he decided he'd better stop checking out his new bed, and actually get ready to sleep in it.

Pulling off his once worn school robes, he made sure to fish his new toad out of his pocket, before he then stripped out of his school uniform, and then into his green and blue stripy pyjamas.

Stifling another yawn, he went and spoke to Ron and Harry for a little bit before he went to sleep, deciding to properly introduce his new pet to them, and maybe set up a play date with Scabbers, the rat currently chewing on Ron's sheets.

It was obviously difficult to introduce his toad, of course, because when asked, "What's its name?" by Ron, he had no answer.

"I-er-I've not given him one yet. Nothing's clicked."

Their idle chit chat was cut short, for Harry decided to lie back on his bed and fell asleep with the closing of his eyes.

Ron and Percy spoke for a bit longer, but both boys were feeling the days events weighing on them, and it wasn't long before Percy had to leave.

Standing up and walking to the more centre of the room, he spoke, yawning as he did so, and said, "Imma have to go to bed bro, night."

Ron had been staring into the spot Percy had previously been sat in, nodding his head repeatedly and blinking far too much. When Percy spoke, Ron's eyes latched onto Percy from the corner of his eye socket, before looking back to where Percy had been sitting on the edge of Harry's bed, where Ron had previously been staring.

Shaking his head to clear his mind a little, Ron breathed out, "Ugggh-think I am as well."

A slight chuckle accompanied Percy's walk to the other side of Harry's bed, the side his bed was on. Heading to his bed, he reached his fingers out to peel his duvet back, and was pleased to find he was right about how soft the sheets were.

One last yawn had racked his body before he clambered into bed, eyelids already drooping shut. He succumbed to the alluring sleep before he could even pull the covers over him. Which would finish off his first night at Hogwarts.

His next few days were fairly similar to each other. He'd wake up feeling amazing, and head down for some breakfast.

He'd stop and chat with some of the people he'd made acquaintances with, as well as new people who looked a little lonely, before carrying on to his breakfast.

Each of his classes were very interesting, to say the least. All of his teachers had been fine up to yet, and he hadn't immediately got off on the wrong foot with any of them so far. He even felt like he was actually once of the better students in his classes.

Though he must admit Hermione held the best title, but it almost seemed like his teacher liked him, as well as the effort he showed. He still wasn't able to do the spell multiple times often, and never to the proficiency he did the first time he tried it, but he managed to wow the teachers with how he could perform each spell with no practice originally.

When thinking about the last days events, he couldn't believe how easily he'd managed to fall asleep which was probably the thing that shocked him the most of his opening few days at Hogwarts, and how much more energised he felt now. He had never been this refreshed at all in his life.

He always assumed that the weird stretching that people did in movies when waking up, was just something used to emphasise how good their sleep was, and wasn't actually something people did when having had a good nights sleep, but when he woke up in the morning, he felt the need to emulate them.

Wednesday was something else though, compared to the relative almost normalcy of his first few days.

He woke up just like any other day, kicking the covers off of his foot, he looked around the room.

Whilst still being a sight to behold, the room didn't have quite the same charm in the morning as it did at night. The pale sunlight shining through the large windows didn't have the same fantastical effect that the moon and torch had. There were no shimmering walls, or glowing carpets.

Yet it was still pretty. The interior designer made sure of that. Sure the effects weren't taking place, but the carpets, and sheets, and cloth draping the walls were still works of art, and were actually perhaps better during the day as you could actually see how much effort and love was put into them, not just senseing it like during the night.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, dangling them onto the cold stone floor. He had gotten used to just stepping out of bed in his and his mom's new house, the carpeted floors protecting from the nights cold. One luxury that wasn't added to his new dorm.

Taking a sharp intake of breath, he quickly tapped the soles of his feet onto the floor, letting them get used to the absence of heat.

He heard a faint chuckle from the bed next to him, startling him, after forgetting that he was now sharing a room with 5 other boys. Looking up, he met the eyes of a bespectacled boy, who had a sleepy smile on his face.

It wasn't long after this before Percy was on his way, and enjoying his first day.

He never really considered himself to be a sociable person, afterall, he had been bullied pretty much daily for as long as he could remember, because who doesn't like to pick on the kid who can't read? It never bothered him, as he knew his dyslexia didn't make him stupid and didn't define him, and how it was just an unfortunate part of his life, so all the cruel jabs he could just shake off. Or he'd like to think so, even though maybe the bullying did bother him, it did make school something he hated afterall, but his teachers, dyslexia, and ADHD also helped that loathing.

But here, at Hogwarts, it was different. It was a fresh start. He felt comfortable here, and with the people around him. There was a side to him that had never been let out since preschool, since the kids he knew lost their childlike innocence and ability to make friends with anything, and became judgemental and clique-y.

It was a side that almost craved friendship, as well created it. It allowed him to talk to just anyone, no matter who, and instantly strike up a friendship with them.

Back in America, before he started his expulsion streak, he had gone to the same school, with the same people, over and over. He saw his friends slowly slip away, and his bullies grow. He closed himself off, not affording himself the chance to even try and get new friends. It only got worse when he had to start going to a new school every year. Afterall, a new kid, who can't read, and would always tap his pen on the desk was a recipe for disaster.

He didn't know what had changed, but he instantly found himself slipping into his older personality, one he didn't know he had lost as a young boy. It's probably why he'd made great friends with Hermione so quickly. It was simple enough with Ron and Harry, they were in the same boat, at one point literally, and they were each new, and different, so they didn't judge him.

But with Hermione, he recognised something within her, that he saw inside himself. She was someone who had never really had a friend, just like him, and was reaching out for someone, just like him. And they just connected. They both wanted to succeed in the wizarding world, and both had an undying fascination with magic.

They also liked the same kinds of things, although most importantly for Percy was both of their like for all things Ancient Greece. His mom would always tell him stories, the myths as well as the history, and it engaged him on a personal and deeply philosophical level. He felt a familiarity with what she told him, and he fell in love with that period of history. And it seemed like Hermione had a similar fascination if her talking a mile a minute about Sparta and Athens was anything to go off.

He bared no ill feelings towards Ron and Harry, both had been good friends in the short time he'd known them, but he just truly connected with Hermione, and spent more of his time with her. He still spoke to Harry and Ron, especially up in their dorm room when they'd chat to each other for hours before they went to sleep, probably driving Neville, Dean and Seamus insane, although they joined in a fair few times as well.

He felt his life was going well. He got on with most of his Gryffindor year, and the ones he hadn't were through not meeting them yet. It had only been three days after all, including the day they arrived.

That's why he was so surprised and reason one of why Wednesday was weird, because in such a short span of time, he'd had more meaningful conversations with his classmates here than he had ever done with classmates back in America.

Granted he didn't quite click with anyone other than Hermione, Harry and Ron, but most other people he had met in his year would let on to him. Well, those from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff anyway. Those were the ones he'd interacted with most, only having had a 2 class with Slytherin and 3 with Ravenclaw, but 7 with Hufflepuff, by the morning of the 4th day, otherwise known as Wednesday.

That day carries on like most others, he made his way to the Great Hall to pick up an early breakfast. He'd made his way to his table, and took a seat before pouring himself a bowl of cereal. It was this delicious cereal with these crunchy chunks and chocolate flakes in them.

It was after his breakfast that it started growing really weird. Normally, he'd finish up and kill the spare bit of time he had by wandering the castle, trying to work his way around and uncover its secrets, as he found himself waking up fairly early as of late so he had the time.

It's when he had just gotten out of his seat and walked past a witch sitting a few seats up from him, when he saw her drop something and heard her curse under her breath.

Heading to help her, he bent down and picked up the book for her. It read _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade_ 6, or at least Percy thought that's what it read, his dyslexia doing nothing to help him. Although he'd read the cover of his own Standard Book of Spells to know what it looked like, and was sure he could make out a 6.

Standing upright again, he turned to the witch and smiled at her. She was pink in the face, a little embarrassed that a first year had caught her fretting about over a dropped book, although once she saw him with a beaming smile, she smiled back as she accepted the book back.

"Aw, ain't you a little cutie." She said, ruffling his hair a little.

Percy must have blushed from his cheeks, to his ears, and then down to his neck. He wasn't used to any kind of girl calling him cute.

The girl just giggled a little at him before thanking him, and turning back to her own food as he prepared to head out the room.

After that, he'd attempted to leave the Great Hall once again, only this time he saw Harry and Ron come in and figured he might as well hang with them for a bit and walk to class together.

It took longer than it should have, Ron's larger portion size helping that, but they were soon on their way again. They left the Great Hall, but not before Percy caught the eye of the girl he helped, who smiled as he walked passed, to which he returned.

He didn't feel guilty about spending his time with Hermione more than Harry and Ron, even if that meant he'd usually be walking to classes with her, but today he was glad that he had normally walked with Hermione.

It was an almost surreal experience for him. The three of them were just chatting away, lost in their own world, talking about the day ahead and how they were finally having potions and how they should watch out for Snape, so much so that Percy almost missed what was going on around them.

Almost.

He first noticed something as they walked out of the room, the tone of passing conversations seemed to change around them. Eyes seemed to follow where they went. Seemed to follow Harry.

Then, when there was a talking point he didn't have much to say on, he let his friends talk it out and focused on those around. That's when he heard them. That's when he realised why they were staring.

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall boy and that nice kid."

"Wearing the glasses?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see his scar?"

Whispers had followed Harry from the moment he stepped foot out of the Great Hall. The moment he'd first been mentioned at the Sorting.

Percy didn't even have time to focus on the fact that people he didn't know thought he was nice, he turned to Harry the instant he realised what was going on.

He saw Harry, although trying his best to block it out and focus on their conversation, constantly looking at the people they were walking past, and the tight strain on his voice as he talked about Quidditch with Ron. Ron didn't seem to pick up on it, probably because he was also one to gush over Harry at one point and knows where the gawkers are coming from. Hell, Percy did as well when he found out who Harry was.

It's just that it wasn't fair to Harry. But he didn't know what he could say. Anywhere he went in the wizarding world, he'd have people act like this around him. He was going to just have to manage it. Although the people doubling back to look at him wouldn't help him cope.

Their conversation slowly moved back to something Percy could relate to, as he was never really one for flying anyway.

Although their new topic never really made any headway, however, as it was by then that they ran into Hermione, who joined them on their trek down to the dungeons and the conversation between the three closed up, despite Percy's best efforts, and Harry kind of attempting to make polite conversation.

That's how it normally was when they'd talk with Hermione. He'd been getting the impression that his other two friends didn't really like her that much, or at least that Ron didn't, as Harry seemed to try to make an effort.

He didn't really mind too much, sure he'd love his friends to also be friends with each other but you can't force someone to like someone else. His friends were always civil as well, even if they didn't like her, but he just hoped Hermione didn't notice their attitudes towards her. After she revealed the thing she wants most in life was friends, it would be hard for him (due to how quickly he grew to care about her) to see her potentially crushed when people she probably considered friends didn't like her.

Anyway, neither his friends not liking Hermione, or everyone staring at Harry were the weirdest things to happen that day.

For the past two days he'd heard nothing but bad news about their potions master. He was apparently a real bad guy, who didn't like anyone.

And boy was that right.

 **A/n - THIS IS MAINLY A FILLER CHAPTER. FORGIVE ME.**

 **I know nothing really happens here, and it's perhaps a little boring, so I want to apologise for that but there's always a calm before a storm.**

 **I just felt it necessary to show you how Percy is fitting in at Hogwarts. It won't seem that pertinent to the story just yet, but his view of Hogwarts is very important for later.**

 **I also wanted to give a bit more of a dynamic for Percy and Hermione, and Percy, Harry and Ron. I know how I want to progress their interactions, and whether or not I want them to become friends later on. But the outcome of that's for me to know, and you to carry on reading and find out.**

 **This chapter is mostly about showing the changes that Percy has undergone, especially in such a short amount of time. It was meant to emphasise just how impactful Hogwarts and wizarding in general has been on Percy's life.**

 **Don't worry though, I still made sure to plant little seeds that will come back in later chapters, so it's not a completely throw away chapter.**

 **Again, sorry for there being no action. I know I've held off on including a bit more excitement so far, with the little tiff with Draco being the only real thing, but that will all change soon. As for now, I want my story to reflect HP Philosophers Stone with regards to build up, and in the first HP book it doesn't really kick into gear until a bit later into the story.**

 **For now, I just want to fully flesh out Percy's character a bit more, and add my own touch to his character and personality while not completely deviating from what he's like in PJO. I feel that's important for writing a good fanfic (hopefully you agree that it's a good fanfic), as people who try to write someone in character, often end up with someone out of character as they aren't the original author and will go overboard on the specific characters stereotypes. Writing them as your own character whilst drawing inspiration allows you to be more creative and consistent with your portrayal of them.**

 **I've tried my best to keep true to how the characters are in their respective materials, however well I've done that, you can be the judge.**

 **There will not be any romance for a very long time in this story, as Percy's only 11 and it's very early to be thinking about that. BUT do let me know if you have any ideas for who he should be with. Annabeth is the obvious choice, but I wouldn't be opposed to him and Hermione (although neither of them have any romantic feelings for each other at this point. They strictly have a good friendship.)**

 **My plan for the fanfic is to turn it into a series. I want to follow both the HP and PJO books to their ends. So yes, I am looking at either 7 books if I want to include a PJO book at the same time as a HP book, or want to have PJO happen in the background, or I'm looking at 12 books if I want each separate book to have their own fanfic version (let me know your thoughts on this too).**

 **And that's all for today's update folks. I really hope the lack of action hasn't put you off just yet.**

 **Leave a fav/follow, and a review, as always, I appreciate each and every one of them.**


	11. Potions Class

As more time passed in the Scottish lands, Hogwarts became ever increasingly perplexing to Percy Jackson. He'd put time and effort into trying to succeed here, focused on trying to tame his attention problems (well as best as a hyperactive delinquent child could do), and overall felt like he was settling in. Yet he always had a strange feeling when walking around the grounds, the hair on the back of his neck would prick up at odd times, and yet he had no understanding of why this happened.

He felt that he had a good connection with his teachers, a connection that definitely wasn't due to them not immediately hating him on sight like literally every other of his teachers did, nope definitely not because of that. Here, his teachers understood him, or at least seemed to. They didn't treat him as though he was an outcast, they didn't constantly bother him for his spacing out in class, or the times he'd run his fingers across his desk. They were by no means happy with this, but they could at least respect his adversity.

Before he had his first potions lesson, he just assumed that this was the standard for all teachers at this school. Guess his talent with spell casting didn't extend to his ability to think.

As he first entered the potions room, or dungeon as it should be more aptly named and probably was named, a chill ran up Percy's spine. It wasn't due to any nefarious means however, it was just a really cold room. As he shivered slightly, he heard the door to the room slam open, rocking the jars of pickled animals suspending in the air, with the force of it. Heading towards the front of the class, Professor Snape leaked an aura of respect, or at least something which screamed, "Fear me". Either way it allowed him to control the room of his students.

He found his seat next to Hermione, a row behind Harry and Ron, and quietly unpacked his things as the class settled down. The class did so much quicker than usual, but that's to be expected when you have a figure like Professor Snape glaring you down.

He started off his class like most other teachers had done, with a register, and roll called everyone's name. He barely spoke whilst doing so, his voice never raising beyond a whisper as he went further and further down his list.

Everything went smoothly, for a while, but as he reached Harry's name, he paused. His lips twitched ever so slightly, a slight sneer forming, before being wiped from his face before any took notice.

His soft voice spoke, "Ah, yes, Harry Potter. Our new ... celebrity."

Muffled snickers sounded to the right of Percy. Draco and his thugs not so subtly covered their mouths in an attempt to cover up their laughter.

Percy's mind ran so wild as he envisioned putting Draco in his place, that he missed the first part of Snape's monologue. He can't deny that the vividity of his imagination left a sour taste in his mouth, being snapped back to reality and confronted with the limitations of the legal system and thus his inability to truly act against Draco, was a truly upsetting thought.

"... don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Finished off Snape, his speech silencing the few remaining conversations.

 _Well that's certainly a good point to tune back in_ , thought Percy. Magic was a truly enthralling notion, and now he was being told he could use it to stop death, it was the proverbial icing on the cake.

It seemed like almost everyone was having similar thoughts to him, if the silence hanging over the room was anything to go by. He saw Hermione straighten beside him, and lean forward into her seat, at the mention of dunderheads. Guess she wants to prove Snape wrong, thought Percy.

It wasn't long after this that Snape showed his true colours.

Calling out to Percy's friend, Snape said, quite suddenly, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

It became abundantly clear just how little work Harry had put into learning the material needed for his first year. The boy looked practically gormless as he looked towards Ron, whose face was a near mirror of Harry's own.

Hermione was the only one in the class who seemed to know the answer, as her hand shot straight into the air.

Snape payed her no interest however, and his lips once again curled into a sneer when Harry admitted to not knowing.

This back and forth carried on, with bezoars and wolfsbane thrown into the mix. Each time Harry would be stumped, and Snape would overlook Hermione.

Harry mouthed off a little, and Percy couldn't say he wouldn't be tempted to either, but it did end up with Gryffindors being docked points which was a pretty big bummer.

Moods didn't lighten as the class progressed. After the initial quick fire questions aimed at belittling Harry were over and done with, Snape went on to explain the process for creating a simple cure for boils, before splitting everyone up into pairs.

Most potions started off okay, but it soon grew plain to see that certain pairings didn't work.

Percy was paired with Draco, and it was safe to say his opinion of the boy wasn't raised in the slightest. He would have leapt at the chance to work with even Neville in hindsight, who was practically terrorising Seamus with his clumsiness.

No, not even a melted cauldron, or a failed potion that caused boils to spring up on contaminated skin, was enough for him to say Draco Malfoy was a better partner.

It wasn't that Draco was a poor student, in fact he came across as quite educated to Percy, but the arrogance and pomposity that he excreted was enough to make anyone wish for angry red boils.

Percy discovered that he was a natural with potion making. He didn't know why, as his ingredient preparation was anything but good. He first tried to argue his case to Draco, by stating he didn't have the patience for surgical cuts, but Draco was having none of it.

As he said, "This way, if we fail, I have an excuse." He had a point to be fair. There was no chance Draco was getting the blame over a Gryffindor if the potion failed or even if Percy refused to do it. The blame would never fall to a Slytherin in this classroom, and Percy would most likely get a detention for refusing to do work.

Resigned to doing all the work, Percy carried on, cursing the house of Malfoy.

He didn't understand how the potion was turning out correctly though. For all his labouring, he just couldn't manage to slice thepigs ears into similar sized pieces. Looking down at each ingredient floating softly in the boiling cauldron, even Draco was amazed at how it hadn't gone completely wrong yet, it was just as if whatever Percy wanted the potion to end up as, it was going to end up as.

That didn't stop Draco from taking the spotlight when Professor Snape made his rounds. Draco, the boy who had been sat back on his stool, talking about inane garbage with Crabbe (or maybe Goyle, too hard to tell them apart), and hadn't lifted a finger to help, was praised by Snape. Snape didn't even acknowledge Percy's efforts into creating the potion.

It irked Percy to no end, and he had half a mind to sabotage their (his) potion in his rage. His mind stirring ever increasingly wrathful, he didn't fail to notice his potion start boiling again.

Blinking his eyes, and as his new curiosity as to how it could boil while off the flame cleared his mind of anger, he focused on the potion again and saw the liquids inside calm.

Puzzled, he carried on with his instructions, and added the porcupine quills to his cauldron.

Trick of the light. Has to be!

It wasn't until he saw everyone jumping up onto their stools, that he realised someone screwed up.

Hopping onto his stool like everyone else, he glanced down at his shoes like his classmates were doing and was pleasantly surprised to see his shoes hadn't had their soles eaten away, unlike everyone else's. He must not have been in the liquid long enough for it do any sort of damage, he thought, as he stared into the purple liquid seeping through the cobbled cracks of the old floor.

Glancing around for the culprit, he found that he didn't have to look too hard to see a drenched Neville, moaning in agony as boils appeared all over his arms and legs.

He was about to jump down to try and help him, before he saw the teacher heading this way.

"Idiot boy!" came the snarled respinse from Snape, as he cleared the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Percy quickly glanced back at his cauldron, making sure his was off the fire, before sighing a little in relief.

He couldn't help but wince for Neville. It was a silly mistake, Snape did give out the instructions clearly, but he didn't deserve to be chastised in front of the whole class for it.

He wanted to speak up for Neville, to defend him, but he knew deep down it would be a losing battle. Snape didn't seem like one who was particularly reasonable, and he'd only end up getting Neville into even more trouble. Snape seemed to have a mean streak in him.

The rest of the lesson passed by relatively smoothly, for lack of a better word.

Snape seemed to have the notion that Harry purposefully sabotaged Neville, and kept a close eye on him for the rest of the lesson.

About an hour after the porcupine debacle, Percy met up with Harry and Ron just outside of the classroom door. He'd been with Harry this morning when he received an invitation from Hagrid. At first Percy wasn't going to pry, but when Ron asked if they could go, and Harry said yes, he was growing more and more curious to properly meet Hagrid.

He met him briefly, very briefly on the walk to the castle, with the last interaction being Hagrid warning him about Malfoy.

As the three were about to set off towards Hagrids hut, he spotted Hermione waving at him.

Smiling back at her, he turned to Harry and said, "I'm actually gonna go hang out with Hermione. Tell Hagrid I say hi though, right?"

Harry looked the tiniest bit upset, but nevertheless respected Percy's wishes.

Percy was just turning to Ron to say his goodbyes, when he heard Ron blurt out under his breath, "Why'd you even hang out with her?"

Ron hadn't meant to say it outloud, it just slipped out.

Percy didn't really know how to answer it. He just liked Hermione.

"I dunno. She's funny, and smart too. She likes the same things I like, and she doesn't judge other people who she barely knows." Even though he purposefully didn't include Ron's name for the last bit, Percy knew Ron got the message if his pink ears were anything to go off.

Percy didn't want to start anything though, so he left it at that, said a last "Goodbye." to the two of them and walked over to Hermione, and the two of them set off.

He spared a quick glance over his shoulder, looking back towards his two other friends, before focusing forward.

He knew it wasn't fair to presume that all of his friends had to like each other, but he just couldn't understand why Ron didn't like Hermione. The two barely knew each other, and their only interactions were when Hermione would sit with Percy and Ron would close up a little. He'd still be civil, but nowhere near his usual self.

He liked being able to hang out with Hermione. The two got along like peas in a pod. They'd been walking for a little bit now, giving Percy time to think, and Hermione instantly picked up on his need to be alone with his thoughts and gave him the space.

Shaking himself out of his little stupor, he turned his head to look at his friend, and saw she had a small content smile on her face as they walked.

Laughing a little broke the casual, peaceful air, and caused Hermione to meet his eyes, through the corner of hers.

"Yes?" She asked, fairly inquisitively.

"I don't know, just happy I guess." He smiled back at her.

She stopped walking, her piercing eyes focusing on his confused ones. After about 2 seconds, her eyes flickered downwards to his necklace as a beam of sunlight reflected off of it.

"You know," she started off, as prying as ever, "I've been meaning to ask you about your ring and necklace. Where did you get them from?"

Percy panicked a little inside. He couldn't tell her that they were actually pieces of armour and shielding disguised, could he?

But then again, this was the wizarding world, he wouldn't be surprised if most other wizards with wizarding parents had their own family heirlooms that could magically change shape.

"Well?" She asked again, a bit more demanding.

It was only then that Percy realised he'd spent a minute internalizing her question and debating the answer, and that he was making her grow impatient.

He glanced up at her face, her eyes wrinkled in a confused, but curious manner, and her nose scrunched ever so slightly as she does when she's deeply trying to figure something out.

There was a glimmer of faith in her eyes, that instantly made him trust her. He knew how much she appreciated their relationship because she was just like him and he appreciated it a lot.

His eyes flickered around them, looking at the different witches and wizards wandering around, thinking about how best to put it.

Hermione could sense from his body language that he was just finding the right way to tell her, but it didn't stop her from being unable to wait. Curiosity was just in her nature.

"They're not actually what you think they are," started Percy, before he realised that sounded stupid and that he probably should get to the point, especially with Hermione.

"What I mean by that, is that they're armour disguised to look like what you see. I don't quite know how it works, but when me and my mom went to my vault, we just saw these magnificent pieces of armour, shields and weapons. And when I tried to touch the ones I like, they shook and bright light shone from them, before they transformed into what you see. Well the weapons turned into this..." he trailed off as he fished his coin out of his pocket, his hand brushing past his pen.

If Percy had x-ray vision, he'd be positive he would be able to see the cogs whirring away inside Hermione's head.

For her credit, and his relief, she seemed like she believed him straight away which saved him the awkwardness of trying to prove it whilst not knowing how to get his accessories back in their original form.

"You're lucky. My parents are both muggle, and so were their parents and so on, me being a witch was a shock. We didn't have a vault already, so we had to set one up. There's not much in it now, but there will be. I just wish I had fancy magic heirlooms in mine. I guess I've got to make sure their is for my children now." In typical Hermione fashion, she spoke probably a word or two a second quicker than she should do, but her enthusiasm was equal parts endearing and informative.

"With how well you're doing in lessons, I'm sure you'll be able to make the coolest things to leave for your kids." While she in no way seemed down about not having the camouflaged armour, even seeming more excited about being able to fill up her own vault than having a vault already filled for her, Percy still felt it right to compliment her and put to rest any doubts.

She tried her best not to show Percy how much it meant to her that he complimented her, as she doesn't want anybody to think she needs validation, but she couldn't stop the slight smile adorning her lips.

Her new friend Percy was just so kind to everyone, that she was surprised he only had three real friends at Hogwarts. Sure she'd seen him talk and get on with others, but he only ever talked about and hung out with Ron and Harry, if he wasn't with her.

She could tell that he wasn't as much of a happy and carefree guy as he made out to be. There was sadness for all to see in his sea green eyes. Shallowy hidden behind the surface, making his eyes look like a glass that could break at a moments notice.

Often times his smile wouldn't reach his eyes, and she could tell that his thoughts were elsewhere.

She didn't know him nearly well enough to say that he could confide all his secrets to her, even though there was something about him that made her want to just give him a big hug and tell him to let it all out. Perhaps because she knew it's what he'd do, if the situation was reversed.

She knew not to pry though. She knew he wouldn't be comfortable telling her, or anyone for a long time what was truly going on inside his head. But she would be there when he was ready, she hoped.

Because she knew he would want to be there for her, if reversed.

 **A/n - "sorry", "excuses", "etc".**

 **Not much else to say really. I don't have a reason as to why it's been so long, to be honest.**

 **I could use university as an excuse, but that would be flimsy at best. Sure it's been a lot of work, but I've also had a lot of time for myself where I could have written more.**

 **I would try and say I'll be better, but for anyone who has been here from the start would know, that would just be a false promise.**

 **I am sorry for this chapter being poor, however. When I finally felt a bit of my love for writing come back this morning, I quickly hopped over here and got to writing. I rushed this chapter out as quickly as I could, and it really shows, so again, apologies for that. You definitely deserve a bit more quality than this for how long you've had to wait, but to say that would imply my other chapters have been of a decent quality, and I'm not nearly narcissistic enough to even say they've been of passable quality.**

 **Hope you enjoy, and as always drop a review, favourite, follow, or just do whatever you want.**

 **And remember, the next chapter will be coming soon (if you have enough faith in me at this point to believe that).**


	12. Flying Lesson, and Realised Fears

The prospect of flying had never enticed Percy Jackson.

For as long as he could remember, his mom had always warned him of the dangers, and urged him about how he should never find himself too far in the air.

He knew vaguely of his grandparents, and how they met their untimely deaths in a fiery plane crash. He always just assumed his mom was still, understandably so, upset from losing her parents, and the idea of flying brought bad memories to the surface for her.

But when he found out that flying lessons would be coming to the first years, he understood his moms warnings on a deeper level. Never having been anywhere near a plane, or anything flying, he'd never experienced what he was experiencing currently.

When Harry broke the news that they were to be having a flying class, shared with the Slytherins no less, Percy felt his body grow stiff, and his hands start to clam.

The idea of being anywhere in the air, without a building beneath him, he hated to admit it, but it scared him. The concept of flying was something so foreign to him, and against his instincts that he was visibly shaking. His gut feeling told him that the minute he stepped foot in the air, he was in enemy territory.

It took him a little while to calm down, making him look like a fool in front of his friends, but thankfully they didn't care too much at his actions, but that didn't stop him from sputtering out a very weak excuse.

He didn't understand why he acted like this. Seeing the broomstick in Diagon Alley made him excited. The idea of using a broomstick now, excited him. The concept of a broomstick seemed so freeing, and he felt he could be free whilst on one and yet flying felt so trapping.

It was until breakfast on Thursday that he actually had a deep conversation with someone about his fear of flying. Well deep for Percy, so a small exchange.

After waiting in the Gryffindor common room for her to come down, Percy and Hermione walked together towards the Great Hall.

Percy knew that the idea of a flying class rattled her almost as much as it rattled him, just for different reasons. He didn't like the idea of being almost wanted whilst in the air, and Hermione didn't like the idea of a class where she couldn't be the best by learning out of a book.

Wanting to make sure she was okay, and ready for the class later today, he told her to meet him in the common room so they can go to breakfast together.

Since they both get up fairly early, a miracle for someone like Percy, but standard procedure for Hermione, they had a lot of time to spare so they made the most of it, and took the scenic route to the Great Hall.

It was a short while before either really spoke, both happy to enjoy the fresh air, but it was Percy who broke the silence first.

"So flying, huh? Wizards never stop surprising me. You finally learnt all you need to know?" He asked her, remembering the times she went to the library to read all she could about flying on a broomstick.

Hermione's cheeks went pink.

"Not quite yet. There's just so much to learn. There are far too many different broom holding techniques, and twists and turns and manoeuvres to perfect, as well as all the different makes of brooms and how like with wands, the wood changes how they act which then means I can't use some of the techniques I learnt on some brooms because they might be made for different types of brooms. That's without mentioning it's a lot easier to read about it than do it in practice." There was a slight breath at the end, that usually meant she was finished talking, before she turned to Percy, and said, "How are you feeling? You looked really bad when Harry first told you about the lessons."

Percy probably should have expected this when he brought up the topic of flying, but it didn't leave him any less prepared.

She was right though, he was a mess when he first found out, embarrassingly.

"Better. What's the use in caring when it's happening anyway, ya know?" He could tell from the look that passed across her face that this wasn't what she was looking for.

"Yeah I suppose that's fair enough. But I was more wondering why you acted like that in the first place. I wouldn't have thought you were scared of heights, afterall, you tell me about how you like to look out your window in Gryffindor tower at night to watch the stars shine. And they're pretty high up." Fired Hermione, as curious as ever.

It was often hard to decipher the true intent of what Hermione says, because she has this overwhelmingly curious and questioning personality, which means that everything always sounds like she's trying to work through the answer on her own, and doesn't actually care for your answer, when in fact she does.

He started and stopped a couple times, trying to word what he was about to say in a way that made him sound slightly more sane, "I wou..I'm not sca...It's complicated. I'm not scared of heights, but I am of flying. Like I'm not scared of falling off or anything like that, but when I think about being in the air whilst flying, I feel wrong. Like it's going against who I am. Just talking about flying now, thinking about the wind rushing past my face and hair, is getting my heart pounding and I can feel my back tensing a little. But, like, being on a broomstick also feels kinda liberating. Like I'd enjoy flying, if it just wasn't in the air."

For perhaps the first time, Hermiome appeared to be at a loss for words. He doesn't blame her, it's not exactly a normal fear. Most people who are scared of flying, are scared of crashing or falling, whereas he was sitting here scared of the actual idea of flying in the air.

When planning his argument before, he was originally going to bring up his mom and grandparents, and how it was drilled into him that flying was bad, but something deep down told him that wasn't the true reason for his fear. His intuition was going off the rails with this one.

The topic gradually moved on from the idea of flying, as Hermione couldn't quite find the words to ease Percy's mind, and Percy didn't want her to either. He wasn't looking for someone to make him better.

Their chatter descended into small talk, both not needing to have a deep conversation to enjoy talking to each other.

Still having the time to spare once they reached the Great Hall, they both sat down, got their food, and ate slowly. Hermione was currently telling him about everything she had read in Quidditch Through the Ages, after he asked "What's everyone's deal with Quidditch anyway?"

Perhaps he wasn't looking for the detailed, in depth history of Quidditch that he got, but he still enjoyed learning about the sport, as it made him feel like he could actually speak to Ron about it instead of awkwardly standing to the side to wait for the topic to change. He'd learn from Dumbledore as well, but the old wizard left a lot out for him to explore on his own.

Soon more and more people started filtering into the Hall, and the volume of the chatter in the room went up.

He learnt from his, probably not too subtle, eavesdropping that Neville was equally nervous about flying, since his grandmother never let him anywhere near a broom, so he was trying to listen intently to what Hermiome had to say.

He let those two talk it out, as he had already heard it earlier, and started up a conversation with Harry, to then be joined by Ron when he eventually lugged himself down to get something to eat.

The topics were meaningless, from being asked about his chocolate frog card collection by Ron, to which he had to answer that it was doing quite poorly, to him wanting to know what he missed out on from when they met Hagrid.

"Nothing much really, mate." Started Ron, "we just went round, had some tea, and these really bad rock cakes. More rock than cake, I'll tell ya."

"Yeah, while I like Hagrid, I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't like his rock cakes. I think I've still got one in my trunk if you want to try it." Harry asked Percy, grimacing a little at the memory of the cakes.

"Erm I'll think I'll pass." Percy retorted, not too fond of the idea of breaking his teeth.

There was soon a sound of screeching as the owls descended to deliver everyone's mail.

He flinched at the sight of the owls. He had a poor relationship with these nocturnal vermin. Granted they hadn't quite outright attacked him whilst he's been at Hogwarts, they wouldn't let him take his mail without having to come away with a few scratches to his hands.

Today was no different.

Normally every owl would drop the parcels and mail they were carrying on the table in front of the student. But whenever Percy was concerned, the owl would always swoop down, and perch itself on the table in front of him.

It would then raise its talons slightly, allowing the letter to be reached easier, almost taunting like. The minute he'd reach in, to get the letter (the only thing he could do to get his letter, for he was too stupid to think to ask someone else to get his mail), the owl would then lower its talons to the point where if Percy wanted to get his hand and letter out, he would be forced to get a light scratch on his hand.

It was almost nice in a way. In a very weird way. It was like they were compelled to injure and attack Percy, but they also didn't want to hurt him too much. If they weren't wizarding owls, he'd be lucky to come away with just a light scratch and not severely shredded clothes with blood seeping through the tears. Were owls just nicer in the wizarding world?

Who knows?

Checking the package in his lightly scratched hand, he saw words in his moms hand writing on the front. Unwrapping it, he found a letter, and a bag of blue sweets.

Opening up the letter, he saw his mom had tried to use more spaced and bolder words to help ease his dyslexia, like she normally does. It helped to an extent, but he still could only make it through a couple of sentences after quite a long time.

Looking around, his eyes spotted the bushy hair of his friend Hermione, and while he was sure she'd be cool with helping him out with reading if he ever needed it, it was still awkward to ask at this stage in the new friendship.

Lightly tapping her shoulder, to draw her nose out of her book, he took a small breath before putting a small smile on his face.

Turning around fairly sharply, a look of mild annoyance on her face, she looked ready to berate someone.

He just gave her a sheepish grin.

Her fire soon turned cool as her initial ire wore down, and she returned his smile.

"Hi, did you get anything good in the package you got?" She looked down at the letter in his hands, before noticingthe scratches on his hand. "What happened there? Are you okay"?

Looking down at his hand, he saw the light scratches running across it. He'd honestly nearly forgotten about it at this point, as it really was a very light scratch.

"Oh the erm, owl delivering my mail, I snagged one of his talons. It's fine, doesn't hurt. And will proably clear up in a few days." It wasn't a lie, but she didn't seem convinced.

"Well what about your mail then. What did you get?" Her mouth moved on, but her eyes said otherwise. You could just tell she found it odd that he was close enough to an owl to get injured.

"That's what I got you for. I... erm, well I... erm. I've had trouble reading ever since I can remember. The words just don't sit still. I was kinda hoping you'd help me read it." He confessed to her.

Despite having been dyslexic his entire life, the awkwardness and helplessness he felt when admitting his weakness was always humiliating.

Her eyes widened a little, "Oh, you mean you're dyslexic? Of course I'll help you." The lack of judgement in her voice really helped soothe Percy's worry.

There wasn't much in the letter, just an update on how she was doing finding a job, and reminding him to keep safe and to study hard.

He smiled a little at the end of the letter, feeling a little warning at hearing his mom is doing well.

He thanked Hermione, before he reached for the bag of sweets, pulling a random one out before offering her some.

It wasn't long after that, that they all started moving towards their classes for the day.

The classes passed by, rather boringly, as all the students were growing more and more excited for the flying lessons later that day, and he just couldn't relate to them.

Well he could, he loved the idea of Quidditch and being free on a broom, he just wished they could do it underwater or something.

When the time came, he trudged after the Gryffindor pack who were practically prancing forward with excitement.

Percy followed as they made their way down long, sloping hills leading to a smooth, flat lawn. There was a slight chill breeze to the air, crisp in nature, fluttering through the clear sky.

Taking deep breathes to tame his nerves, he shut his eyes and focused on the soft breeze rustling past his ear.

It wasn't long before the group of first year Gryffindor students arrived at the correct location, and discovering they had been beaten there by the Slyrherins.

Following the herd to the other side of the lawn, away from the Slytherins, he spotted the dividing line of 20 or so broomstick sitting between them, lying in neat lines.

He looked over at them warily, any minute now and he'll be up there, then it's anybody's game.

He spotted their teacher, Madam Hooch, enter the field, and quickly make her way over. Her eyes, hawk like in colour, sat below her short, grey hair.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Following her lead, he headed towards the broomsitck closest to him.

When he first caught sight of a broomstick, all those weeks ago in Diagon Alley, it was this majestic, beautiful, and intricate work of art.

He remembered how much he enjoyed the idea of being free, and how he'd enjoy using a broomstick. Back then he hadn't seen the broomstick as a means to be free whilst flying, but just as a means of being free. He didn't once think he'd use it to fly in the air, despite knowing it was a flying machine.

And it was true, he loved the idea of being free. But the more he thought about being free in the air, the more he felt trapped. He wished that in this moment, standing in front of the crappy, old broomstick, he could go back to the same excitement he felt back in Diagon Alley.

There was just something about the air that screamed danger.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," he heard Madam Hooch call from the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP!" everyone shouted.

His broom jumped straight into his hands. The minute his fingers curled around the broom, he felt his worries quieten down. They by no means disappeared, but the waters had temporarily calmed.

He did a quick glance around to see if any others had done it. He first clocked Draco proudly waving his broom around, due to the Slytherin being nearly opposite him.

He saw Hermione next to him struggle. Whenever she called for it, it just rolled over on the ground, which is more than what Neville got. Neville's broom lay still, not moving an inch.

The only other one that Percy could tell had done it first time, was Harry, a couple places away from him.

He could hear Hermione growing more and more frustrated at her brooms defiance, so he leant over to hear and said, "Just relax a little. Think of it like a horse, or something. If you want it to do what you want, be a bit more gentle and assured with what you say. Okay?"

Hermiome breathed through her nose and exhaled out of her mouth, trying to calm down a little. She followed Madam Hooch's instructions once more, thinking about Percy's words too, held her hand over the broom, and said, "Up!"

The broom didn't move.

A loud sigh of frustration greeted Percy's attempts to say, "I thought it would work.", and Hermione just ended up reaching down and grabbing the broom off the floor.

Once everyone had their brooms in hand, whether through calling it or picking it up like Hermione, Madam Hooch showed the class how to successfully mount a broom without sliding off the end. Before walking up and down the rows correcting grips.

His grip was all over the place, as evidenced by how much adjusting Madam Hooch had to do. As she worked her way down the line, Percy noticed she practically skipped Harry out, after looking down at his hands with an impressed look upon her face.

He guessed the boy who lived was as much of a natural at Quidditch, as he was at slaying infamous Dark Lords.

His eyes followed Madam Hooch as she made the rounds, before she ended up at a floating Draco Malfoy. He could see the glee on Harry and Ron's face as she told him he'd been doing it wrong for years.

He, too, couldn't keep the slight smirk off of his face at seeing the gobsmacked Draco.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle -- three -- two--"

In what was becoming typical Neville fashion, he kicked off before Madam Hooch blew her whistle.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was ascending high, and fast -- twelve feet -- twenty feet. His scared white face was for all to see as he looked down at the ground growing further away, before he gasped, and slid sideway off of his broom.

WHACK - after a painful thud, and a nasty crack, Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.

"Broken wrist," she murmured to mainly to herself, but for all to hear. "Come on, boy -- it's all right, up you get."

She turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

A burst of laughter rang out as soon as the two were away from earshot. Malfoy was the culprit, if one couldn't guess.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?"

The other Slytherins joined in.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. A pin could drop as everyone grew silent quickly, eager to watch.

A nasty smile, nowhere near out of place on Malfoys face, grew.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find, how about, up a tree?"

"Don't be such a prick all your life Malfoy." Shouted out Percy, as Harry yelled,

"Give it here!" A moment after.

But Malfoy had already leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Oi, come and get it then."

Harry grabbed his broom.

"No!" shouted Hermione to the right of him. "Madam Hooch told us not to move, you'll get us all into trouble."

Percy was just thankful Harry made a lot of movement getting his broom, as she didn't notice him getting his.

He locked eyes with Harry, and gave him a little nod. Harry seemed to understand, and stepped down from his broom.

Hermione was satisfied with this, until she heard the air woooosh behind her as Percy shot forward. She turned to see what happened, when she heard it again behind her as Harry shot off as well.

Percy was no longer as confident in the air, as he was in the ground. The minute he set off, he could feel the air turn icy, pulsating with a hidden energy. Dark clouds rolled in from behind the distant hills, as rain began to fall. A heavy smell of ozone wafted throughout the area, the smell of an oncoming storm sent warning bells through Percy mind. Heavy gusts blew this way and that. He was lucky he'd been gripping tightly when ascending to meet Malfoy.

His eyes fluttered every which way, looking for a way out. He'd been on a steep incline and had reached high into the sky. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen quickly.

He didn't stand a chance at getting to the ground soon enough, and that's not like he thought it would make any difference.

He glanced down, towards the group below him, and he saw them pointing up at the sky, whilst trying to cover their heads with their robes to protect them from the rain.

He tried looking around for Harry and Draco, but he lost them in the dark that rapidly appeared.

He could vaguely make out in the distance, through the now gloomy air, that the Great Lake had its waters thrashing against the shore. An almost whirlpool-esque phenomenon stirred the waters in the middle of the lake into a frenzy.

And just like that, the storm stopped.

The lake stilled in the blinking of an eye, and the dark clouds and the smell of ozone just blew away. The wind soothed to the gentle breeze once more.

His heart was hammering the inside of his chest, rapid breaths slowly being brought under control.

He brought his hands up to his soaked head, flinging his hair backwards, before clearing his face from the rain.

His hair kept dropping into his eyes, so he gave it one last try to push it backwards, before his stomach dropped.

A large gust of wind then appeared from nowhere. Careening into the side of him, causing him to tumble from his broom.

Free falling 60 feet, he grasped his hand out, trying to clutch onto his broom. His fingertips made contact with the shaft, but he couldn't hold onto it.

And just like that, he was falling. He could see the ground coming upon him, and he heard the startled gasps of the crowd below as he quickly came into range.

And then, nothing.

 **A/n - a fairly quicker update this time, I'm sure you'll all agree.**

 **I've decided how long I left for wasn't good enough at all, so I'm now aiming to get a new chapter out every 1-2 weeks. This one was brought out as quickly as I felt comfortable doing, because those who have stuck by me for a while deserve at least this small reward.**

 **Hope you enjoyed, and until the next time, see ya.**


	13. EZ DEATH

Percy Jackson's body had contorted into outlandish shapes as he struggled to get up.

His eyes were forced firmly shut to try and withstand the pain.

The ground beneath his fingers was cool and hard, stopping him from digging into the floor and gripping tight.

His face, pale, pressed against the cold surface, as he lay prone and in agony.

A guttural scream escaped his body as he moved his arm inward. Dislocated. Had to be.

Grunts and breathes of air bounced around the room, echoing for miles. A cold air fluttered through the room, pinning the back of his hair to his neck.

He tried opening his eyes, but black and yellow spots danced across his vision.

He took a deep breath, and then another, and then a last, before placing two hands infront of him, forcing him to blink back the pain, before he pushed upwards.

His arms shook as they held his weight, so he quickly brought his knees forward, putting them underneath him so he could sit up on them.

His breathing quickened, and his head felt light. His whole upper body felt so unassured, as it softly swayed from side to side.

A feeling in the pit of his stomach grew, churning along as it went. He could feel it rising, forcing him to crease.

He took a fee more deep breaths, trying to hold the sick at bay, before gagging and flinging his hands to his mouth, trying to stop the vomit that forced it's way past his fingers.

His head lolled forwards, sick pooling at the corner of his mouth, slowly dripping towards the floor.

 _Drip_ * went the first droplet of sick, bouncing onto the ground loudly, in the silence of the room. Percy was only just coming together properly. He didn't notice the sick still falling from his mouth.

The second * _drip_ * was just as loud. Percy let out another groan, before opening his eyes slightly, and bringing his arm up to his mouth.

 _Drip_ * went the third droplet. Falling just before Percy could wipe it away.

Eyes fully open now, he took in the room. Well, tried to. The room was so bright, that it nearly blinded him and he was forced to blink away even more spots from his eyes.

As his eyes finally adjusted, he looked around the room, before his eyes settled on a chair in front of him.

Well not quite in front of him, rather about 200 metres away, but so huge it looked like it was practically in front of him.

And his eyes had not quite settled, but as close to that as possible.

In the chair, sat the most imposing figure he'd seen, ever. The glare from this figure was so tremendous, he wasn't able to look anywhere near close to him for fear of going blind.

Looking around the room again, he noticed that the room itself wasn't bright, in fact, it was dark. Very dark.

The entire room was made of glossy black bricks, each of which were being bathed in light from the seated figure.

Squinting back up, he could make out a shadowy beard, like a lions mane, through the glowing backdrop.

His eyes, like glowing suns, was where the glare came from. Streaks of light battered the air around, stabbing every bit of untouched darkness it could.

Golden suns slowly travelled to Percy's body, as this man (if you could call him that), took note of the little boy in front of him.

Percy was hunched over, hands desperately open in front of his eyes, trying to shield himself from the light.

If the man saw this, he chose not to take pity.

His head was cocked in Percy's direction. Curiosity would be the only thing you would see across his features, if one could see them at all.

The man evidently had enough of Percy, and simply waved his hand.

The next time Percy could feel anything, was the next time his eyes focused in on reality.

This time, wherever he was, his feet were planted on the ground already, so he didn't have to fight through pain to survery his surroundings. Nor was he hunched over with sick dripping off his fingers, trying to hide away from the eyes of a giant.

Speaking of where he was, he didn't have a clue. He could see mountains and hills sprawling out for days in front of him.

But everything was off. The grass on the hills in front, as well as the grass beneath his feet, it was all dead. Blackened and patchy, and worn, it could have looked nice, if it was lush with greenery.

A well worn path was carved on the hill beneath, which Percy started following. He tried fighting it, but his feet just followed along the path.

Which shouldn't have been possible.

His right ankle was at least sprained, and when he checked it, it had ballooned to the size of his knee. Which wasn't fairing well either, as that was bent at an awkward angle, causing the entire bottom of his right leg to be pointing outwards, instead of straight.

The left side of his leg was no better, his entire thigh blackened with a nasty bruise. His knee was the size of a bowling ball, much like his other one, and his ankle was causing his left foot to face inwards.

He shouldn't have been able to walk, let alone walk straight, but he was.

The pain wasn't anywhere near as bad as it should have been, in fact, he'd argue that it was non existent. He couldn't feel anything.

His shoulder no longer had the pain of dislocation running through it, and his breathing was back to normal, as was the light headedness. It was just gone.

He wasn't fixed, as anyone could clearly see by looking at him, but he sure was on some hell of a pain killer.

Shaking off the shock at not being in tremendous discomfort, he followed along the path. Feet trudging after the other.

He didn't have to follow for too far, before he got over the top of the hill, and could look down to where the path was going.

If he could physically feel sick anymore, he would do.

Beneath him was what appeared to be a cross between an airport, and the Jersey Turnpike. There were three separate entrances, with three accompanying lanes.

Each lane was backed up for miles, with the shades of dead people queuing along.

One line appeared to be moving much quicker than the other two.

Was he dead?

Surely not.

He looked down at himself, and saw nothing but the dark, ripped robes of the dead, much like those below him.

But what about his clothes? He clearly saw them before when checking his injuries. Where had they gone?

He can't be dead. He just can't.

Yes he fell quite far, but surely wizards could heal him.

Right?

His feet were moving again.

He carried on trudging downwards, feet not leaving the floor, heading towards the back of the queue.

It didn't take too long for him to reach the back, well it did, but not as long as he thought.

Now he had two options, the EZ DEATH line, or the ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines.

He didn't have a clue what either of those meant, but thankfully, the afterlife was prepared for the dead not being prepared.

There was quite a sad looking sign just ahead of him, with rotten wood foundations holding aloft a peeling sign.

Moving towards it, he saw that the EZ DEATH, which he only just realised meant "Easy" death, was the route you follow if you wish to skip judgement.

Despite how gracious the afterlife had been to provide him with the necessary information, he didn't want to stick around.

He was no longer travelling on autopilot here, and was free to make his decision.

What's to stop him making a run for it?

Although, where would he go?

He looked around for any place he could use.

In the far off distance towards the left, he could see smoke curling upwards, with a faint hue of red flickering behind barbed fencing. The sound of screams wafted towards him from this direction.

 _Maybe not that way,_ he thought to himself.

Glancing in the opposite direction, he saw an island, barren of everything but a gigantic, gorgeous palace sitting in the middle. The island itself was surrounded by a moat of fire, or magma, or something that was orange and glowing and would most definitely kill him.

There were gigantic black towers, with white thin bones looped around the base. Bat like women flew around the open tops of the towers, moving in and out, before sometimes perching at the top. Their eyes looking out across the land, surveying the dangers that were posed to the palace, if any dangers were present.

In the areas between the magnificent palace with the golden furnishings, and the clearly not so nice most likely torture area, there was nothing.

Just nothing but hills, going on forever.

Percy sighed, before looking downwards, he could feel his own spirit breaking. There was no escape. He was actually dead. This was it.

He took the furthest left lane, the EZ DEATH lane, and moved with the line.

He thought about getting judgement, but he hadn't done anything particularly remarkable (good or bad), so he figured he'd save himself a good few hours, most likely days, which were probably actually months if not years, and go straight past judgement and end up where he'd have ended up anyway.

The line he chose moved very quickly. But not rapidly.

It still took him hours following along.

If he could feel anything, he was sure his legs would be aching something terrible right about now.

He guessed it took him hours, mainly because he didn't want to believe he'd been walking for days, do nothing but think about nothing and just walking.

It was pitiful, and he refused to accept that he'd taken part in it, when he had already done so.

It took a long time, but he was finally getting somewhere.

Only a couple miles away now. He could see the building on the horizon.

At this point, things started getting quicker. Far quicker.

In no time at all, he moved until he was about 100 metres away. It was like time was being played in slow motion for the first hundred miles, but the next couple it was being played on fast forward.

He was only a 100 metres away.

100 metres away from being legitimately dead.

The line shuffled forward again.

75 metres.

Moved forward again. 40 metres.

That's when he noticed it. If he had skin any longer, it would be sheer white.

Towering above, was a gruesome and grotesque beast. Three heads, each as terrifying as the last.

With darkened eyes, and sunken cheeks. If not for the translucent skin already showing you its bones, you'd have been able to see them anyway.

Every time it stilled, it became translucent, blending with the background, leaving only a skeletal outline of where it is.

If it just so happened to move, its skin would ripple, becoming thicker and more visible. Mangy fur, mottled and unwashed, laying over thick muscular legs.

White slobber dripped between yellow fangs as long as Percy's arm. Black gums surrounding its teeth.

There was a pool at its feet, clearly acidic from the fumes fluttering upwards, where the slobber would land.

One of the monsters massive feet was stood in the middle of this acid pool. Dark claws protruding from its fur, slowly scraping at the ground.

It was antsy.

And Percy's nerves were tested.

His line passed right underneath this monsters stomach. The tallest of shades being able to pass underneath with no problem.

He gulped.

He shivered.

He closed his eyes.

 _Focus Percy,_ he told himself, _you're dead. What does it matter if this clearly dangerous monster is here? It can no longer harm you. Nor does it want to._

He didn't know how much he believed that last part, because this thing was looking mighty hungry, and had been eyeing up everything that moved around it.

But he didn't dwell. What use was that anymore?

20 metres away.

He was close now.

The sound it was making was unlike anything he'd heard before. It was a deep, primal growl, that shook the ground where Percy was.

10 metres.

10 metres from its feet. From its claws.

5 metres.

1 metre.

He closed his eyes, wincing in anticipation of a mauling.

Nothing.

He kept walking.

0 metres.

5 metres.

10 metres.

He was safe through the other side.

If you could call being officially dead, safe.

He was just about to leave the airport/death queue whatever, when he heard a fearsome roar.

His hair shot up on his skin, and he whipped around.

Three nasty heads were looking at him.

They were glaring.

They were eyeing him up, and they were going to eat him.

He just knew it.

He smiled at them, very nervously, in the hope of appeasing them.

It didn't work.

They pounced, and they were on him.

One of its paws flattened him to the ground, it was so huge that it covered his entire body.

He coughed as the monster crushed his lungs under its weight.

His eyesight slowly faded, but not before he saw its other fore paw rear backwards.

His eyes widened, and things moved in slow motion.

He could see the paw, claws extended,arcing through the air towards him.

His face slowing turned away from it, eyes closing.

The paw connected with his face, and that was the last thing he felt, before he shot upwards, eyes opening up into the scene of a hospital ward.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr Jackson. You had quite a lot of people worried about you."

 **A/n - before we get to certain usual trademarks of one of my updates, how is everyone doing currently? I hope you're all doing well, and I hope all your families are doing well.**

 **A bit of a shorter update, but I feel like I got everything needed in this chapter for it to be where I want it to be at, so I didn't add unnecessary filler to pad it out. Sorry if you don't like that, but it is what it is. Future updates will be longer, but some may also be shorter, it's just however the mood takes me.**

 **I now it's been quite some time, once again.**

 **Are apologies beyond use now? If my apologies still mean something, I am really sorry. I keep telling myself, and you lot, that I'll update sooner, but I always fail. Granted this time there is a global pandemic going on currently, but still, I hadn't uploaded before then, so I don't have too many excuses.**

 **The themes in this chapter are all pertinent in setting up future plot points, so while they may not seem necessary atm, and just delaying his return to the wizarding school of Hogwarts, they are important and will be needed for future plot.**

 **As usual, please review. I appreciate every single one of them.**


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